The Story of Pyramus and Thisbe
Pyramus was the handsomest youth, and Thisbe the fairest maiden, in all Babylonia. They loved one another and lived with their parents next door to each other and would gladly have married, but their parents forbade it. In the wall that parted the two houses there was a crack, through which the lovers conversed.
They agreed that at night, they would slip away from the watchful eyes of their parents, leave their dwellings and walk out into the fields, and meet at the Tomb Of Ninas, under a certain tree. It was a white mulberry tree, and stood near a cool spring. That night, Thisbe cautiously crept away, unobserved by the family, her head covered with a veil, made her way to the monument and sat down under the tree. As she sat alone in the dim light of the evening she saw a lioness, her jaws reeking with a recent slaughter, approaching the fountain to quench her thirst. Thisbe fled, and sought refuge in the hollow of a rock, and as she did so she dropped her veil. The lioness after drinking at the spring turned to retreat to the woods, and seeing the veil on the ground, tossed it around with her bloody mouth.
Pyramus, having been delayed, now approached the place of meeting. He saw in the sand the footsteps of the lion, found the veil covered in blood, and consequently presumed that Thisbe was dead. He picked up the veil, carried it with him to the appointed tree, and covered it with kisses and tears. He then committed suicide by drawing his sword and plunging it into his heart, causing the blood to tinge the white mulberries on the tree, red.
Thisbe, then stepped forward, and saw the changed colour of the mulberries and doubted whether it was the same place. However she found Pyramus, and cried out both his name and hers, and at the sound of her name, Pyramus opened his eyes, only to close them again and die. On seeing that her veil was stained with blood, and blaming herself for his death, she killed herself with the same sword. The two bodies were buried in one grave, and the tree ever after produced purple berries, as it does to this day.
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