Nereids

 ( Greek Sea Goddesses ) 

Greek folklorist Nicolaos Politis amassed a great amount of modern folkloric material regarding the . In modern tales from Greek tellers, the are said to dance at noon or at midnight; to have beautiful golden hair; to dress in white or rose garments and to appear wearing a veil on the head, or holding a handkerchief. Due to their beauty, young men are drawn to the and steal their veils or kerchiefs to force their stay in the mortal realm. The women marry these men, but later regain their piece of clothing back and disappear forever.Lawson, John Cuthbert (1910). Modern Greek Folklore and Ancient Greek Religion (1st ed.). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. pp. 132–133, 135–136, 138–139. Greek scholar Anna Angeloupoulos terms this storyline The Stolen Scarf, one of four narratives involving the . Also, this sequence is "the most frequent and stable introductory episode" in Greek variants of tale type 400.

In a tale from Greece, a human goatherd named Demetros, dances with ten fairies three nights, and in the third night, on a full moon, he dances with them and accidentally touches the handkerchief of Katena. Her companions abandon her to the mortal world and she becomes Demetros's wife, bearing him a daughter. For seven years, Demetros has hidden the handkerchief, until his wife Katena asks him for it. She takes the handkerchief and dances with it in a festival, taking the opportunity to return home and leave her mortal husband. Years later, their daughter follows her mother when she turns fifteen years old."III. The Fairy Wife". In: Gianakoulis, Theodore P. and MacPherson, Georgia H. Fairy Tales of Modern Greece. New York City: E. P. Dutton & Co. 1930. pp. 34–47.

Another introductory episode of the Greek variants is one Angelopoulos dubbed The Sisters of Alexander the Great. This refers to a pseudo-historical or mythological account about Alexander the Great and a quest for a water of life that grants immortality. His sister (or sisters) drinks it instead of him, is thrown in the sea and becomes a , a half-human, half-fish creature with power over the storm who can sink boats and become birds. They approach ships to ask if Alexander still lives, and can only be appeased if answered positively. In one tale, a youth on a ship captures a three times (or three ) and beats her until she promises not to threaten any more ships. The youth then arrives on a deserted island and sees three birds that become human (or flying maidens), and steals their garments. Richard MacGillivray Dawkins suggested that the modern was a merging of three mythological characters (the Sirens, the , and the Scylla), and reported alternate tales where Alexander's sisters are replaced for his mother or a female lover.

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• Nereids in classical literature and art
• target="_blank" rel="nofollow"> Nereid and Triton Mosaic from Ephesus Terrace Home -2
• target="_blank" rel="nofollow"> 3D stereoview of Nereid and Triton relief from Temple of Apollo in Didim
• The Warburg Institute Iconographic Database (images of Nereids and other Sea Deities)