The Three Sirens Read Free

gossip that might substantiate your dream. Then, suddenly, last week, by accident, when I had all but given up thinking about the matter, your old request bore fruit.
    Yes, Dr. Hayden, I have found your lost island.
    Forgive me, if my stiff English belies the thrill within me as I put these words to paper. How I wish for eloquence in your language, this moment of fulfillment. Handicapped as I am, I will do my best to convey to you my enthusiastic emotions.
    After a decade of years, I have found, among the thousands of islets of Oceania, the hitherto unknown island and unknown people that you once sought. This is not hearsay or native gossip, Dr. Hayden. I address you with the authority of firsthand evidence. For, I have walked on the soil of this minute high island. I have consorted briefly with its inhabitants, a mixture half-Polynesian and half-English, as in the instance of Pitcairn Island. I have observed, and since heard more of, the customs of this tribe, and these customs reveal one of the most peculiar and strange isolated civilizations on the earth today. I try to see this find of mine through your expert and experienced eyes, and I see a study that might be of great importance in your work and a useful contribution to every man and woman alive.
    The name of this overlooked South Sea island group—one small but lush volcanic isle, and two tiny atolls—is The Three Sirens.
    Do not attempt to locate The Three Sirens on any map. They are not there. They have not been officially discovered for the authorities or the public. Do not attempt to research The Three Sirens in any learned books on Oceania. As far as history and geography are concerned, they do not exist. You must trust my scholar sense: The Three Sirens, if microscopic by comparison, are as real as Tahiti or Rarotonga or Easter Island or, for that matter, Pitcairn Island. As to the populace of the Sirens, no more than two hundred I should venture, they are also as real as you and I. With the exception of myself and two other Caucausians, they have not been seen by anyone alive on earth today.
    What is most unique about these people on The Three Sirens—I must state this as a preliminary, for if this does not interest you, then you need not trouble to read further, and I shall reluctantly turn elsewhere—what is most unusual about these people is their advanced (I might add amazing) attitude toward the practice of love and marriage. I am sure there is nothing similar to their historic behavior in any other society on the globe.
    I cannot comment if the sexual and marital customs on The Three Sirens are good or bad. I can only remark, without equivocation, that they astound me. And I, Dr. Hayden, speak not as an ignorant, inexperienced undergraduate, but as a scientist and a man of the world.
    If I have piqued your interest, as I pray I have, you must read on. Remember, as you read, that I am no teller of tales, that I speak with the cold objectivity of a German-trained archeologist. Remember, too, the words of the immortal Hamlet, “There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy.”
    I will discuss, chronologically, my own involvement in this accidental discovery, as well as what I found, what I observed, what I heard, and, as it may concern you, what may be done about this, in a practical way.
    About six weeks ago, there came to my shop a tall, aristocratic, middle-aged Australian gentleman, who introduced himself as Mr. Trevor, of Canberra. He said that he had just completed a tour that encompassed Western Samoa, the Marquesas, the Cooks, and that he could not return to his homeland without bringing some souvenirs. He had heard of my stock, and my reputation for honesty, and he wanted to purchase several small artifacts. I led him about the shop, explaining this item and that, its origin, its history, its uses and meaning, and soon he was so taken by my broad knowledge of the South Seas that he began to question