Myth of the Week 015

The Alkonost is, according to Russian folklore, a creature with the body of a bird and the head of a beautiful woman. She sings beautifully, and those who hear her song abandon every mortal qualm or concern. The alkonost lives in the underworld with her counterpart, the sirin. 

Viktor M. Vasnetsov, Sirin and Alkonost—Birds of Joy and Sorrow, 1896.

The alkonost lays her eggs on a beach and rolls them into the sea. When her eggs hatch, a vast and turbulent thunderstorm appears overhead. The name of the alkonost comes from a Greek demigoddess whose name was Alcyone. In Greek mythology, Alcyone was transformed by the gods into a kingfisher.