Ah, Starbucks. Named for Captain Ahab’s faithful first mate in Herman Meville’s Moby Dick; cult obsession of my hometown, Seattle; worldwide coffee sensation; provider of my daily happy juice. But I’m not here to talk about my obsession with my Caramel Macciato or my Earl Grey Tea Latté (seriously, guys, “London Fog” was a lot easier to shout over the din of 7am commuters).

"Odysseus and the Sirens" Athenian red figure stamnos, circa 5th century BC

A lot of people are under the impression that the woman on the Starbucks logo is a mermaid (two tales? Okay, I can kind of the go with that), or a Siren (see right). Unfortunately the bit about the Siren is tragically wrong. Pop culture has shifted our recollection of the Greek myths. A prime example of this is Perseus riding Pegasus. The only mortal to ever ride Pegasus was Bellerophon, son of Poseidon and master of horses. Perseus had the winged sandals given to him by Mercury and therefore didn’t need a winged horse. The only connection the two have is that Pegasus was born of Medusa’s blood when Perseus beheaded her (a result of having trysted with Poseidon back in the day). But I digress. Ahem. Sorry, touched a bit of a nerve there.

A Siren, like a Harpy, had the head of a woman and the body, or at least body parts, of a bird (see right). So no go there, Starbucks. The woman seen gracing our cups and the top tower of the Starbucks headquarters is taken from German heraldry and is representative of the Melusine (left).

There are several stories about the Melusine, but the most famous is from poet Jean D’Arras in the 14^th century. He tells us of a king, Elynas, who met and wooed a beautiful lady in the forests, the fey woman Pressyne. Upon their marriage, she made him swear never to spy on her in childbirth or when bathing her children. Like all heroes of myth, however, he completely disregarded her entreaty. Enraged, Pressyne fled with their three daughters back to the Otherworld.

The triplets—Melusine, Palatyne and Melior—took revenge upon their father for betraying their mother by locking him in a mountain. Pressyne, upon hearing what her daughters had done, punished them. Melusine was cursed to take the form of a serpent every Sabbath and thrown into exile.

She was wandering the woods of France when she met Raymond of Poitou, prince of Antioch (and supposed ancestor of Eleanor at Aquitaine ). She, too, married under the condition that her husband promise never to spy on her in the bath. Raymond loved her so much that he built a special part of the castle for her so she would have privacy on every Sabbath. She bore him many children, but each was in some way deformed and taken away from her.

Here the story diverts a little. One version says that Raymond became suspicious and went to spy on her through a hole in the door while she took her bath and, seeing her with the lower portions of a serpent, gave out a cry of astonishment. Melusine, alerted to his betrayal, flew out the window.

The second (and I do believe older) version states that one of Raymond’s clergymen whispered poison into his ear, making him suspect Melusine’s demand for independence to be infidelity. So he and a few of his priests went to her baths on a Sabbath night and burst in on her. The clergymen, seeing her true form, proclaimed her to be a demon and took her up to throw her out the window to her death. I think this second version much more likely, from a storytelling standpoint (flew out the window? And in what part of the myth did it mention did the serpent woman sprout wings), but also as an allegory in the shift between faith. Not only does it represent the change of epoch from matriarchal culture to patriarchal, but also the fading of the Goddess religions and the efforts on behalf of the church to demonize its symbols.

On a more trivial note, other myths claim that the Melusine became a banshee that haunted the castle for centuries after, foretelling the deaths of each member of the royal family—her descendents—with her moans. Also worth noting: the Czech word meluzina means ‘wailing wind.’

Just so y’all know what I’m thinking about when I drink my coffee.