http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neck_(water_spirit) Nordic lake monster
Ah, this reminded me of legends on the Rhine. My mother's name is Loreley, which comes from the German Lorelei, a rock on the Rhine where a beautiful woman's apparition sits bewitching sailors.
I know not what it should imply,
That I am so forlorn;
A tale from times so long gone by
From my thoughts will not be torn.
The air is cool and it darkens,
And the Rhine does calmly flow;
The peak of the mountain sparkles
In the sinking sun’s last glow.
The most beautiful maiden so
Alights, but wondrously up there.
It blazes, her golden bow,
She combs her golden hair.
She combs it with golden comb
And thereby sings a song;
A seeming wonder-tome
With a melodye violent-strong.
The seaman in his tiny yacht
It grasps with wilding woe,
He looks not at the rock-reefs as he ought,
He looks only up from below.
I believe the swells do devour,
In the end, both skipper and skiff;
Smitten, in his final hour,
By the Lore-Ley with her riff.