Pyramus and Thisbe

Pyramus and Thisbe are the classic forerunners of Romeo and Juliet. These two young Babylonian lovers were parted by their cruel parents, yet contrived to meet secretly, and between-whiles they breathed affection through a chink in the dividing wall. Their favorite tryst was in the shade of a white mulberry at the tomb of Ninus, outside of the city gates. One day Thisbe, having first arrived, was frightened by a lion that made its appearance, fresh from the plunder of a sheepfold. She sought refuge in a cave, but in her haste she let fall her veil. It was torn by the claws of the beast and drabbled in the blood of the lamb it had slain, and when Pyranus discovered it, he set up a loud lament, convinced that he had lost the maid. “Since you are gone,” he cried, “my blood shall mingle with yours.” After moistening the veil with his tears, he plunged his sword into his heart.

After waiting until she was sure the lion had gone, Thisbe ventured from her hiding place and came to the tree once more. A human form was lying under the mulberry. It was her Pyramus, and as she caught his head to her bosom the last glance of his glazing eye was fixed on her. Exclaiming, “As love and death have united us, let us be buried in one tomb,” she struck the steel into her own soft breast, with such force that the blood spouted over the berries hanging overhead. As her eyes turned toward heaven, blue and calm beyond the branches that shadowed her, she gasped, “You tree, bear witness to the wrongs our parents have done to us. Let your berries be stained with our blood in token of their misdoing.” The lovers were buried together and since that day the mulberry has been red.

From: Myths and Legends of Flowers, Trees, Fruits, and Plants, by Charles M. Skinner, c. 1911 by J.B. Lippincott Company