In Book Twelve of The Odyssey, Lady Kirke draws Odysseus aside from the celebration of his success at the houses of death to warn of the trials that still await him on his long journey The loveliest and most perilous of these are the Seirenes, whose soulful melodies bewitch and entrance mere men. Anxious to hear their serenade and yet keep his mind, Odysseus, with Kirke's assistance, devises a plan: His crew must lash him to the mast of his ship and plug up their ears with beeswax so as to hear neither the Seirenes nor his cries to release him. Odysseus must then remain there,.
