Comparatively few stories of the Muses survive from the ancient world, and they often show similar examples of instant and terrible revenge for hubristic bets and contests. The Sirens – who are the high watermark of destructively powerful song for us: siren song is a rare phrase that has leapt into regular language from myth – lose the very feathers from their wings when they propose and then fall short in a contest with the Muses.17 Not only do the Muses take the Sirens’ feathers, but they decorate themselves with them: a casual, ornamental triumphalism.
