Fan depiction of Aeolis- Artist: Asaba
‘I told my companions what Circe had told me about the Sirens in their field of flowers. I took a great piece of wax and broke it and kneaded it until it was soft. Then I covered the ears of my men, and they bound me upright to the mast of the ship. The wind dropped and the sea became calm as though a god had stilled the waters. My company took their oars and pulled away. When the ship was within a man’s shout from the land we had come near the Sirens espied us and raised their song.’
‘“Come hither, come hither, O Odysseus,” the Sirens sang, “stay thy bark and listen to our song. None hath ever gone this way in his ship until he hath heard from our own lips the voice sweet as a honeycomb, and hath joy of it, and gone on his way a wiser man. We know all things—all the travail the Greeks had in the war of Troy, and we know all that hereafter shall be upon the earth. Odysseus, Odysseus, come to our field of flowers, and hear the song that we shall sing to thee.”’
‘My heart was mad to listen to the Sirens. I nodded my head to the company commanding them to unloose me, but they bound me the tighter, and bent to their oars and rowed on. When we had gone past the place of the Sirens the men took the wax from off their ears and loosed me from the mast.’
Odysseus shares the warning Circe gave him about the Sirens.
The crew covers their ears with wax.
They tie Odysseus to the mast, so he can hear but not move.
The song of the Sirens enchants him. He begs to be let free.
The men refuse and they float by unscathed.
This article from the Audobon magazine shares how some historians think that Sirens might have been flying creatures, and not mermaids as they are often depicted.