Scylla and Charybdis

In Greek mythology, two monsters that resided on either side of the Strait of Messina. Scylla was a monster perched on a rock that would eat sailors off their boats; Charybdis would swallow vast quantities of water, creating a whirlpool that swamped passing ships. These classic references have come into colloquial English as "between a rock and a hard spot." According to Toles, we seem to have encountered the whirlpool.