“Caperat hic cantus Minyas mulcere, nec ullus
PrÆteriturus erat Sirenum tristia fata
Iam manibus remi exciderant stetit uncta carina.”

Orpheus: Argonauticis.

[Virgil had a pupil named Minuzzolo, who was very small indeed, but a very beautiful youth, and the great master was very fond of his disciple.]

They undertook a long journey round the world, since Virgil wished that his little Minuzzolo should learn all the wonders which are hidden in the earth.

So he said to him one day:

“Know, Minuzzolo, that we are going on a long journey which may last for years, and thou must be right brave, my boy, for many are the perils through which we must pass, and dire are the monsters which we shall meet.”

So they went forth into the world, far and wide, and little Minuzzolo showed himself as brave as the biggest, and as eager to learn as a whole school with a holiday before it when it shall have got its lesson.

All things he learned: how to resist all sorceries and evil spells; he could call the eagle down from the sky, and the fish from the sea; but one thing he did not learn from his master.

One day Virgil gave him a book wherein was the charm against the Song of the Siren, the words which protect him who knows them against the music of the Voice. But two leaves stuck together like one, so that Minuzzolo skipped two pages, and never knew it.

Virgil had gone forth, and Minuzzolo, seated in a hut in the forest where they lived, began to sing. Then he heard in the wood a girl’s voice, which seemed to come from a torrent, singing in answer; and it was so sweet that all his soul and senses were captured, he forgot all duty and desire, his master and everything, all in a mad yearning to follow the sound. So he went on and on, led by the song; day and night were unnoticed by him. The Voice went with the torrent, he followed it to a river, and the river to the sea, where the waves rolled high in foam and fog; he followed the song, it went deep into the sea, but he gave no heed, but went ever on.

Then he found himself in a very beautiful but extremely strange old city—a city like a dream of an ancient age. And as eve came on, the youth asked of this and that person where he could pass the night, and all said that they knew of no place, for into that city no strangers ever came. However, at last one said to him: “I know where there dwells a witch, and she often hath strange guests; perhaps she will give thee shelter.”

“I will go to her,” replied Minuzzolo.

“Better not,” was the reply. “I did but jest, and I would be sorry if so fair a youth should be devoured by some monster.” [34]

“Little fear of that have I,” replied the young magician. “He who has harmed no one need fear none, and in the name of my Master I am safe.”

So he went to the house and knocked, and there came to his call an old woman of such unearthly ugliness, that Minuzzolo saw at once that she was a sorceress. So when she asked what he wanted, he replied:

“In the name of him whom all
Like thee obey, and heed his call,
And tremble at his lightest word,
Virgil, my master and thy lord,
I bid thee give me food and rest,
Whate’er thou canst and of the best!”

And she answered:

“Whate’er is asked in that dread name,
I’m sworn to answer to the same.”

So the youth stayed there and was well served. And in the morning he thanked the old woman, and asked her where he could find Virgil. She replied:

“Do not seek him in the forest where thou didst leave him. Since then thou hast passed over half the world, for she who called thee was a Siren, whom none can resist unless they learn the spell which thy master, foreseeing that thou wert in danger, gave thee, and which thou didst not learn. However, I will give thee a ring which will be of use, but do not seek its help until thou shalt be in dire need. And then thou shalt say to it:

“‘In nome del gran Mago,
In nome di Virgilio,
A chi sara buono!
Questo anello sara mia sposa!’”

“In the name of the great magician!
In the name of Virgil!
To whom be all good,
This ring shall be my spouse!”

“Well shall I remember it,” replied Minuzzolo. So he went on to the land and by the strand ever on, till he came to a great and fine ship, and pausing as he looked at it, he thought he would like to be a sailor. Therefore he asked the captain if a boy was wanted. And the captain, being much pleased, took him and treated him very kindly, and for three years Minuzzolo was a mariner.

But one night there was a great storm, and there came in an instant such a tremendous wave and gale of wind that Minuzzolo was blown afar into the sea and wafted away a mile ere he was missed. However, he gained a beach and scrambled ashore, where he lay for a long time as if asleep. Yet it seemed to him, while thinking of the captain and his mates, that he were being borne away and ever on, as if in a dream, and indeed, when he awoke, he found himself in what he knew must be another country, in another clime.

And being very hungry, and seeing a fine garden wherein delicious fruit was growing, he approached a tree to pluck a pear; when all at once there sprang out a man of terrible form, with eyes like a dragon, who threatened him with death.

But Minuzzolo drew the ring from his pocket and repeated the charm, and as he did this the sorcerer fell dead. And then he heard the voice of the Siren singing afar, and it drew nearer and nearer, till a beautiful girl appeared. And when she saw the hideous sorcerer lying dead, she exclaimed with joy: “At last I am free! This the great Master Virgilio has done; over land and sea and afar off he has put forth his power. Blessed be his name!”

Then she explained to the youth that she and others had been enslaved and enchanted, and compelled to become a Siren and bewitch men. But Virgilio, knowing that she was lurking near to charm his pupil, had given him the book to read, but that her master by his power had closed the leaves, so that Minuzzolo had yielded to her song. But Virgilio had put forth a greater power, and brought it to pass that the Siren was herself enchanted with love, and in the end the sorcerer was defeated.

Then Virgilio appeared and blessed the young couple, who were wedded and lived ever after happily. Such things did Virgilio.

This strange story, in which classic traditions are blended with the common form of a fairy-tale, was sent to me from Siena, where it had been taken down from some authority to me unknown. It begins very abruptly, for which reason I have supplied the introductory passage in parenthesis.

Minuzzolo, led strangely afar over the sea, drawn by the voice of the Siren, suggests that the Argonauts were called Minii, because they were descended, like Jason, from the daughters of Minia. There may be here some confusion with Minos, of whom Virgil says that “he holds in his hand an urn and shakes the destiny of all human beings, citing them to appear before his tribunal,” “QuÆsitor Minos urnam movet.” In the Italian legend Minuzzolo, or Minos, has a ring which compels all who hear his charm to obey.Minuzzolo wins his Siren by means of a ring, and it is remarkable that Hesychius derives the name Siren from se???, seire, a small ring. Moreover, the sirens in the old Greek mythology did not of their own accord or will entice sailors to death. “The oracle,” says Pozzoli (Dizionario Mit.) “had predicted that they should perish whenever a single mortal who had heard their enchanting voices should escape them.” Therefore they were compelled by a superior power to act as they did.

Confused and garbled as it all is, it seems almost certain that in this tale there are relics of old GrÆco-Latin mythology.

The names of the three Sirens were Aglaope, Pisinoe, Thexiopia; according to Cherilus, Thelxiope, Molpe and Aglaophonos. Clearchus, however, gives one as Leucosia, another as Ligea, the third as Parthenope. “Aglaope was sweetest to behold, Aglaophone had the most enchanting voice.” Therefore we may infer that Aglaope, or Aglaophone, was the heroine of this tale. It is remarkable that Aglaia, a daughter of Jupiter, was the fairest and first of the three Muses, as Aglaope was of the Sirens.

It would seem evident that Edgar A. Poe had the Siren Ligea in mind when he wrote:

“Ligeia, Ligeia,
My beautiful one,
Whose harshest idea
Will to melody run . . .
Ligeia! wherever
Thy image may be,
No magic shall sever
Thy music from thee;
Thou hast bound many eyes
In a dreamy sleep,
But the strains still arise
Which thy vigilance keep.”

Most remarkable of all is the fact that the Sirens, who were regarded as evil witches or enchantresses of old, are in this story, which was written by a witch, indicated as women compelled by fate to delude mariners, which has escaped all commentators, and yet was plainly enough declared by the Oracle.