Gabriel Wittkop talks about the origin, habits, fates and metamorphoses of harpies Illustrations by . The harpies are omnipresent and always alert, so we can't escape them. The key to the solution lies in their name - "the kidnapper", "the thieves" . They personified the Cretan deity of death, represented in the Odyssey by the raging wind. In Hindu theogony, they become demons of the sky, beautiful as large birds of prey. Constantly changing from century to century, they take on new, unusual guises, flowing into each other in an eternal movement, similar to the excitement of the sea, where they originated. They are as old as heaven and as old as death. The harpies are the image of the devouring Mother, a cosmic being who swallows and spews in one eternal double motion. Therefore, they are related to bearded sirens, serpent goddesses spewing large rivers, deities of the chthonic depths. If you dream that you eat harpy liver, you will soon die.