Just off the coast of Dårlig Ulv Stranden, Norway, a fishing ship was floating in the water. They had just dropped anchor an hour ago, and the men were all taking a much needed rest. The sailors were very wary of what lay in the deep and knew the tales of what happened at sea.
One man named Peter Olsen, was keeping watch along the sides of the ships, carrying a lantern and occasionally peering over the side into the depths. It seemed that night as though the water wished to absorb no light and only reflect it back, causing a man not to be able to see any deeper than the surface.
Peter was on his ninth circle around the ship when a spot of white in the water caught his eye as he glanced over the ship’s side. He looked back over, holding his lantern out over the water. He saw it again and quickly moved so he was looking directly down at it. It was a woman’s face, her hair gently drifting around her, and her mouth open as if she were screaming.
Peter did what any sane man would do; he put down the lantern and dove into to save her.
Once he had recovered from the shock of hitting the icy water he looked around frantically trying to find the woman. He knew he could not stay in the water for already the cold was seeping in and making it hard to move his arms, and the water was weighing down his thick fisherman’s clothes so that he was having trouble staying afloat.
He finally saw her a bit deeper in the water, reaching out to him. He quickly swam down to her and reached for her hand. He saw her smile viciously and suddenly the most beautiful music began to play. Peter could not help but stop and listen. He began swaying his head along with the music and only then noticed that the woman had no legs, only the tail of a fish. By then the music had sunk so far into his brain that he could not find fear about this tail, he could only marvel at its beauty.
Her tail combined seamlessly with her human-looking waist, and was covered in the most beautiful green scales that were so bright they caught the light even in the deep water. Peter slowly looked up at the rest of the woman. She had pale white skin, but dark black hair that played about her head in the currents. Scales also flowed from the middle of her ribcage up to her shoulders and around her back. She was the most beautiful creature Peter had ever seen, though if he had not heard her song he would have only known fear of her.
She smiled at him again and gently took his hand. She slowly pulled him deep into the abyss, while he went with her, as willing as a child, too busy listening to the beautiful sound. He was so focused on the music he did not even know he was crying from the beauty of it.
He was dragged to the ocean floor where he was devoured, just another victim of the siren’s song.
