I am El Naddaha, the so-called Siren of the Nile. In my native Egypt’s Arabic, I am called Ginneyya, the caller. I call men to join me in the Nile’s dark depths, never to be seen again. Some call me mermaid. Others say I am a Djinn. Some compare me to Lorelei. But only those who I call to me know for sure, and they have no tales to tell. I am told that I am breath-takingly beautiful, with alabaster white skin, long dark hair, and equally dark, haunting eyes. They hypnotize and beckon; once seen, no man can resist them, or me. There are those who have tried to stop other men from following me into the deep river, and woe to them, for they are the next ones that I call to me. It is said that I devour and eat the men, after they drown in the Nile’s murky waters. But no one really knows for sure, besides me, anymore than anyone knows why I am possessed to do what I do. Only I can tell you my reason. I am the great-granddaughter of Isis, through Horus, and then my father, Hapi, the God who brings the inundation of the Nile each year. I wanted nothing more than to live as a Nile entity, as my father did, but the god Set had other plans for me, and sought to make me his pleasure slave. I refused his advances, wanting the love of a Nile merman instead, who Set killed. He then condemned me to this eternal life as the deadly nymph of the Nile, causing men to jump to the deaths in search of me. It horrifies me, but I am powerless to end the curse upon me. I am Ginneyya; Look into my eyes and love me.
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