PYRAMUS AND THISBE: ROMAN ROMEO AND JULIET

(This story appeared on the work of Ovid entitled Metamorpheses, in which Dante’s The Divine Comedy is also included.
Some say that this story is also the basis for Shakespeare’s masterpiece, Romeo and Juliet.)

Long ago, it was said that the mulberry tree had white fruits, but it turned dark red because of the tragic story of
a young couple that happened underneath one of its branches.

In Babylon, there lived a pair of young man and woman named Pyramus and Thisbe. They grew up in houses built
side by side, so close, with only a wall separating them. When they were kids, they did what kids of opposite genders so:
tease and quarrel to their hearts content, but in time as they blossomed into youth, familiarity transformed into
attraction, and attraction gave way to love. Soon, the two of them became lovers.

Unfortunately, their families hate each other so much that when the couple for their consent so they can marry,
their families refused and tried to keep them away from each other. But lovers will do and accept anything for love, and
soon they found a chink in the wall that separates them. Night after night they would sit near it, talking in whispers, so
near yet so far. At last, they have hatched a plan to elope and agreed to meet in the nearby mulberry tree after nightfall.

Thisbe was the first one to arrive, but as she stood underneath the tree, a lion came with a mouth covered in
blood, having just fed on an ox before. Thisbe fled and hid in fear, but in her hurry, she dropped her veil on the ground.
The lion chanced upon the veil and tore it furiously, staining the cloth dark red.

It was this scene that welcomed Pyramus. Seeing the bloodstained cloth belonging to his lover, he inferred that
the wild animal had killed and eaten Thisbe because he was not there to protect her. And so, in his anguish, he cried to
the heavens and stabbed himself with his sword, ready to be with his lover whom he believed to be dead. His blood
splattered the fruits of the mulberry tree nearby.

Thisbe now came out of her hiding spot to inspect if the lion was still there. Instead, she found the body of his
beloved surrounded by a pool of blood. Awash with despair, she took hold of the very sword that took the life of his
lover and plunged it on herself as well. Her blood intermixed with Pyramus’s blood on the mulberries. Thus, they died
together in each other’s arms, in love, and at least, at peace.

They said that the gods took pity on the young lovers, and so, to commemorate their great love for each other,
the fruits of the mulberry which used to be white in color, was eternally turned into red.

(Sources)

Britannica.com

Mythology by Edith Hamilton