Brazilian Myth: Yara/Lara.

 

Lara..

Mãe das Águas 

 mother of the waters

Lara also Know as the “Lady of the Waters, or Mother of the waters” is most often depicted as an attractive yet very  dangerous  and seductive mermaid-like cryptid from Brazil.

She lives in the rivers and lagoons, where she sings her haunting songs to attract the local fisherman  using her beautiful voice and good looks to call them to their deaths, similar to Greek sirens.

 with the combined beauty of her voice and seductive figure she easily lures  men into the water where they seldom return. The few that do manage to escape her are haunted by her otherworldly songs for the rest of their life often driven to madness.

 In most  versions of this myth she lures men who fell under her spell into the water to drown them.

In other variants her spell  would compel him to simply leave everything he had  behind and live with her underwater forever because of her beauty ...though in this kinder version she is  said to be a very loving and attentive wife and would love him for  the rest of his life.

However she is   immortal and will spend most of eternity alone. (Humans only live so long).

In yet another versions  

She was a beautiful young warrior-woman, skilled in combat and the art of  war though she lives  in a patriarchal tribe, she eventually gained the admiration of the entire tribe and even her father the chief respected her ability, however her brothers grew jealous of her and  decided to murder her during the night. 

According to this version she defended herself from her brother's and accidentally killed them in the process upon discovering he's sons dead , her father became furious at her.

 She fled to the jungle  but was eventually captured and punished for her brothers death's, by being drowned in the river.

 A different ending to this version  claims the brothers  killed her the nigh of the attack and dumped her body in the river then  blamed the night goddess, Jaci, for her disappearance.

In both versions she ends up in the river, And is turned into a mermaid   by the nearby fish on the night of a full moon or by Jaci.

Now  she takes her revenge on all men by seducing them and drowning them in the river.

Some claim even being near her territory is enough to drive a man crazy and make him want to enter the water.