Long ago, in a time before written words, when all stories were spoken and passed on through their constant retelling, there lived a siren on the lively island of Crete. Most people regarded Crete as the most beautiful island in Greece due to its abundant growth and unique creatures, yet the beauty of the entire island could not match up to the beauty of the single siren. It was her job to be beautiful, and she lived beyond that expectation. Every day she stretched out on the smoothest rocks near the shore, and she combed her flowing yellow hair while she sang ancient ocean melodies. Her songs could be heard miles from the island, and they drew sailors in like moths to the warmest golden flame. But, just as the warmest flame would eventually burn the innocent moth, the siren will always hurt the dazed sailor. Always as the ships neared the shore, having changed their destination just to stop and see the heavenly siren, they would crash and be stranded on the sharp rocks at the foot of the island. Once they left their ship, each of the sailors would try to charm her one by one, to no avail. Hearing her song and taking in her beauty was enough to make every man want to be with her forever, without ever having spoken a word to her, but she always turned them away. This is why they called her the siren; she lured them in and left them stranded and alone at the far end of the vast island. Stories of this dreaded siren got around greed to warn other men of the trap, but of course it meant nothing once one of the sailors heard her song. Everyone wondered why the siren constantly turned down every man she met, and why she always sat on the shore singing, seemingly determined to be alone forever. She never told them, because it was a siren's job to be somewhat mysterious, but she was already in love with someone she could not have.
Every morning, the small group of mermaids inhabiting the waters on the west coast of Crete would come up on the shore for a few minutes to warm their scales in the sunlight and comb their luxurious wavy hair. The siren had fallen in love with one of these gorgeous mermaids. She had never spoken to the youthful, red-headed mermaid, but she knew that she loved her, for she was drawn as strongly to the mermaid's beauty as the sailors were drawn to the siren's. The siren knew that they could never be together, for the mermaid lived under water while the siren was confined to the shore. She could not even make her way past the sharp rocks to the sandy shore to talk to the mermaid when she saw her each morning. So, as the sailors went on telling stories of this siren, whose beauty was beyond compare but who was not available to them, the siren went on watching the mermaid whose beauty was unsurpassable, and who the siren could never know.