Chapter 12 The Siren’s Song
“Many days ago the Great One created a most excellent being. She was the seal of perfection, full of wisdom and perfect in beauty. She was in the garden of the Great One and every precious stone was her covering: the sardius, topaz and the diamond, also, the beryl, onyx and the jasper. Even the sapphire, turquoise and emerald with gold covered her.”
“She was more beautiful than any woman born of man since the beginning of time until now, and her organs sounded as timbrels and pipes inside her as she walked about in the presence of the Great One.”
“So radiant was she that the Great One called her a Daughter of the Morning, and with her voice she sang a song of enchanting chords and intoxicating melodies.”
“One day as she strolled along in the Great One's garden, she heard as it were the voice of a Son of Man singing in the earth. His voice was more beautiful than any she had ever heard...even more beautiful than her own if that were possible.”
“She determined to have a closer look and so she stepped out from eternity onto the edge of time and looked down into the earth. There on the roof of a palace in the Great City of Jerusalem, she saw a King singing a harmonious song dedicated to the Great One.”
“That King's name was David. As King David sang he also danced. And though his body sounded not as timbrels and pipes when he moved, he danced with such abandon in honor of the Great One that the Daughter of the Morning fell dangerously in love with him.”
So the Daughter of the Morning petitioned the Great One, “give me leave to go down and be joined to the King David”, but the Great One denied her saying, “My Daughter, I have made you more beautiful than any other being I created and higher than the daughters of men.”
“Every precious stone I have given you for a covering even with gold. And I have created timbrels and pipes inside of you that serenade me in my secret Garden each time you pass. And if all of this had been too little, I would have given you even more.”
“I would miss you if you went down. And greater still, I have not created you to coexist with the Sons of Men. You are here for my own personal pleasure and so it is. I forbid you to go down!”
But the Daughter of the Morning was so captivated by the King that she left the Great One's Garden and went down to declare her love for him. She waited there on the roof of the palace for him to come out.
One day as the King strolled out onto the roof to sing and dance in honor of the Great One, he saw the Daughter of the Morning standing there covered in gold and every precious stone and smiling at him.
The King was startled, and having never seen such a being he asked her, “What are you, and from where have you come?”
The Daughter of the Morning told the King of how she had been watching him from beyond the clouds, as he sang and danced for the Great One daily.
She told him that she had petitioned the Great One to give her leave to come down and be joined to him and that the Great One had denied her, but she so loved him that she came down anyway.
“You must be the Daughter of the Morning that I have read about in the sacred scrolls,” the King said. “In my wildest dreams I had never thought to see you here in the earth. You are not created to dwell among the Son's of Men, and though your covering of precious stones and gold is impressive, you lack the simplicity of a Daughter of Man and I will not be joined to you.”
“And even more importantly than these, you have disobeyed the command of the Great One and have come down from eternity after He bid you not to come down. I will have no part with you.”
“King David then looked up and petitioned the Great One from where he stood saying, “Great One, there is none more powerful than Thee. And Excellent are all of your ways. I will have no part in this your Daughter has done, and though I would be obliged to exact your vengeance with haste, my hand shall not go out against your beloved.”
“Now do, what you see fit to settle this matter. Whatever your decision, it is well with me this day,” and the King was silent awaiting the answer, for he knew it would soon come.”
“Suddenly there was a rumbling in the earth as of a great quake and loud thunder from the sky as none had ever heard and the Daughter of the Morning was whisked off of the roof of the palace and thrown onto a deserted Island, landing with a loud crash.”
“She petitioned the Great One that He should allow her to come again into his secret garden but He would not hear her from the earth since she had been forbidden to go down.”
“He banished her from His secret garden to remain on the island in exile for eternity and He closed off the sun from her, so that every time she thought to look up to Him she was greeted with utter darkness.”
“Now the Daughter of the Morning was more cunning than any other being the Great One had created, and so she thought to lift up her song of enchanting chords and intoxicating melodies upon the wind to lure the King David out to her on the Island.”
“But because she had come down from eternity and was now in time with the Son's of Men, she didn't understand how to calculate time as men do. Neither did she now have the sun to show her the passing of days.”
“No matter,” she said. “I will just lift up my song of enchanting chords and intoxicating melodies continually upon the wind, until the King can no longer resist and sails out here to me.”
“I am the most beautiful being ever created; even much more so than any of the Daughters of Men. No man can resist me, not even the Great King David,” she said in her vanity. “He will come out here to me!” she shouted angrily.
“And so the Daughter of the Morning came to be called the Siren. Each time the Siren spotted a ship she lifted up her song onto the wind, bewitching the captain of the vessel and putting him into a trance that lulled him closer and closer to her. But each time she saw that it was again not her beloved King David, in her anger she made the sailors crash upon the rocks.”
“And so she carries on year after year; century after century. She has no idea that her beloved King David is not coming. She doesn't realize that he was not created to live in his first state forever as she was. If only she knew that he has long gone on to sleep with his fathers.”
“So you see,” the Watcher said as he ended the story. “The poor Siren is simply in love. She really doesn't mean to hurt anyone. But each time she sees a ship, and it is not bringing her beloved King David to her, anger builds up inside of her and rage which makes her lure the men in until their fate is a horrible crash upon the rocks.”
“So that which she wants to do, she does not. And the thing she hates to do, she does it continually because with each passing ship, her own heart is broken again and again.”
“To which, I shall answer your question of what of these men today? Because I petitioned the Great One for the assistance of His flaming Cherubs, to bar the way of harm for your love, they have also barred the way of harm for all of these and the spell is forever broken off of them. Because of one man, today all of these are made free.”
“No matter with what ferocity the Siren will sing in hopes to lure them in, these can never be bewitched by her song again. Neither can they even hear her.”
And then the sun rose on the horizon as it always did and the men all dispersed, not remembering the Watcher's story neither who he was nor what they were all doing down at the dock. The three were now alone, the old woman, her love and the man who called himself a Watcher.
“There are others out there who will be killed by the Siren,” the woman said. “Why doesn't the Great One just stop the Siren from singing?” she asked the Watcher.
He turned and looked her in the eyes and said, “When the Great One gives a gift, it is without the ability of confiscation. It is only that when the gift is used apart from the purpose for which the Great One has given it, it will normally cause more harm than good, as is the case with the Siren's Song.”
The old seaman had been silent for all this time, but now finally he had something to say. “I remember You
now!” he said to the Watcher excitedly. “You saved me one day from being drowned by a tempest on the sea.”