8 Brief Tales of Lovers

Pyramus & Thisbe• Pyramus & Thisbe lived in Babylon so close

together that the same wall was part of each house• They grew to love each other and wanted to

marry, but the families would not let them• One day they decided to run away together. They

would meet at a well known mulberry• While Thisbe waited for Pyramus, she saw a

lioness, and in her fear dropped her cloak as she ran away.

Pyramus & Thisbe• Later Pyramus came to the bush and saw that

Thisbe’s cloak was torn and bloody. • Not knowing what had really happened he

killed himself thinking that Thisbe was already dead. His blood covered the berries on the bush as he stabbed himself.

• When Thisbe came back she understood what had happened and then killed herself with the same sword.

• The red Mulberries are a sign of the love they had.

Orpheus & Eurydice

• Orpheus was one of the first musicians. He was the son of a muse and a Thracian prince. He sailed on the Argo.

• On the day of their wedding his wife was bit by a viper and died. Orpheus was so distraught that he went down to the underworld to get her back.

• He played his lyre to calm the monsters and persuade the gods

Orpheus & Eurydice• They let him have Eurydice as long as he

promised not to look at her on their way out of the underworld, but he looked back too soon and she disappeared back into the underworld.

• Orpheus returned to the living world with only his lyre until one day a band of Maenads tore him limb from limb and threw him into the ocean. When the muses found him they buried him.

Ceyx & Alcyone• Ceyx was the son of the star that brings the day.

Alcyone was the daughter of the king of the winds. They were never apart.

• Ceyx had to go on a voyage to consult the oracle, but Alcyone knew how terrible the sea could be and insisted that she go with him. He was deeply moved, but did not let her come along.

• The night after they left the ship that Ceyx was on, it sank in a terrible storm

• Allusion: In planetary science, Orpheus refers to a proto-planet that hit the earth and created our moon.

Ceyx & Alcyone• Alcyone didn’t know and every day she would

pray to Juno to protect Ceyx.• Juno felt sorry for her and asked the god of sleep

to send her a dream with the truth about what happened to her husband

• When Alcyone found out the truth about what had happened she threw herself into the ocean, but instead of falling she flew

• Now Ceyx and Alcyone are together flying over the waves

• Allusion: Husbands going off to war and not returning because they passed away in combat.

Pygmalion & Galatea• Pygmalion was a gifted sculpture and a

woman-hater, he said that he would never marry and that his art was enough for him

• Despite what he said, he decided to make a statue of a woman

• He devoted everything into that sculpture and when he could not add anything else to make it more perfect, he had fallen in love with it

Pygmalion & Galatea

• Venus had heard of Pygmalion’s love for what he had created and when he came home after her feast day, he found that the statue had come to life.

• Venus was present at the wedding, but after that the only thing known is that the statue was named Galatea and their son was Paphos

• Allusion: The famous Disney movie Pinocchio.

Baucis & Philemon• Sometimes when Jupiter (Zeus) got tired of Olympus,

he would disguise himself as a mortal and come down to Earth. On these trips his favorite companion was Mercury (Hermes)

• On this trip they set out to find the most hospitable people in Phrygia

• Jupiter and Mercury went door to door asking for food and shelter, but no one would give it to them, until they came to the hut of a poor couple.

• Even though they were poor the couple offered food and drink to the two strangers

Baucis & Philemon• Finally the gods revealed who they were and asked

what they could do for the couple• The husband and wife only asked to be the priests of

the temple and that neither should have to live without the other

• One day, after years of living at the temple, they began talking of the small one room hut, and as they talked they saw bark and leaves growing on each other.

• They turned into trees, a linden and an oak, from the same root

• Allusion: Often people that donate money to charities and get surprised by good deeds are referred to as Baucis and Philemon.

Endymion

• Endymion is said to be many different things; a king, a hunter, but most agree he was a shepherd. All say that he was a beautiful young man

• The moon fell in love with him and put him into a deep sleep so that she could always find him and look at his beauty

• Allusion: Endymion is just like an everyday day dreamer and Selene the moon can be referred to as the sand man sometimes.

Daphne

• Daphne was a young, independent huntress that did not want to get married

• One day while she was hunting Apollo saw her and fell in love, he chased after her, but as he reached out to grab her she turned into a tree

Alpheus & Arethusa

• Arethusa was a huntress that wanted nothing to do with men

• One day while she was hunting she stopped to take a bath in a cool river

• While she was bathing she felt something under her in the water, in her fear she started running

• It was the god of the river, Alpheus, that was following her and he said he was in love with her

Alpheus & Arethusa

• When Alpheus caught her, she called out to her goddess, Artemis, and she was turned into a spring of water

• Even then she was not free from Alpheus, he followed Arethusa into the tunnel that Artemis made for Arethusa

• Allusion: If a wooden cup is thrown into the Alpheus in Greece, it will reappear in the Arethusa well in Sicily.

Higher-Level Questions

• What would you do in Ceyx’s place? Let your partner come with you or force them to stay home? Why?

• What are the similarities and differences between Daphne and Arethusa?

• How is the story of Pyramus & Thisbe similar to other stories that you have read?