him and made a wager with him that she would dance longer than he would go on playing. If he should win, he should have her to wife; if she should win, she was to take all his flocks as the prize. Three days the shepherd played, three whole nights and days; then his strength failed him, and the Lamia took his sheep and goats and left him destitute.
This poem has some points in common with a belief said to be held in the district of Parnassos, that if a young man—especially one who is handsome—play the flute or sing at mid-day or midnight upon the shore, the Lamia thereof emerges from the depths of the sea, and with promises of a happy life tries to persuade him to be her husband and to come with her into the sea; if the young man refuse, she slays him[1]; and presumably, though this is not mentioned, if he consent, she drowns him.
The same Lamia, it is recorded[2], is also known on the coasts of Elis as a dangerous foe to sailors; for her work is the waterspout and the whirlwind, whereby their ships are engulfed. Among the Cyclades too the same belief certainly prevails (though I have never obtained there any details concerning the character of the Lamia); for on seeing a waterspout the sailors will exclaim, 'the Lamia of the Sea is passing' ([Greek: pernaei hê Lamia tou pelagou]), and sometimes stick a black-handled knife into the mast as a charm against her[3].
In these somewhat meagre accounts of the Lamia of the Sea, there are several points in harmony with the general conception of Nereids. She is beautiful; she seeks the love of young men, even though that love mean death to them; she is sweet of voice and untiring in dance; and she passes to and fro in waterspout or whirlwind. It is not surprising then to find that in Elis she is actually named queen of the Nereids[4], that is, without doubt, of the sea-nymphs only, since she herself has her domain only in the sea. And the title 'queen of the shore' which I learnt of my boatman from Scyros points to the same belief; for as we found Artemis, 'queen of the mountains,' to be the leader of all the, IV. p. 773 (1880).]
