The Young Man and the Sea Maid
The Musician and the Sea
A young man playing a lyre on a rocky shore, with sea maids listening in the waves
There was once a young man in the island of Crete whose chief joy was to sit alone by the side of the sea and play on his lyre. So sweet was the music which he drew from the strings that the very sea seemed to grow calm, and come whispering up the beach to listen.
On one such day of perfect summer when he sat playing by the blue, still water, there came up from the depths a Sea Maid. She rested on a rock and listened for a while with parted lips and shining eyes; then she slipped back beneath the waves - only to return presently with a whole bevy of Sea Maids who listened with her to the wonderful music.
Day after day they came to listen, and the young man would sit with the Sea Maids round him playing of his very best. As time passed the young man grew to love the Sea Maid who had found him first; and he sought to win her love in return. But when he spoke of such things she would shake her head and plunge into the sea.