reek mythology contains stories of the god Triton, the merman messenger of the sea, and several modern religions, including Hinduism and Candomblé (an Afro-Brazilian belief), worship mermaid goddesses to this day. In folklore, mermaids were often associated with bad luck and misfortune. They lured errant sailors off course and even onto rocky shoals, much like their cousins, the sirens — beautiful, alluring half-bird, half-women who dwelled near rocky cliffs and sung to passing sailors. The sirens would enchant men to steer their ships toward the singing — and the dangerous rocks that were sure to sink them. Homer's "Odyssey," written around 800 B.C., tells tales of the brave Ulysses, whose naked ears were tortured by the sweet sounds of the sirens. In other legends — from Scotland and Wales, for example — mermaids befriended, and even married, humans.