In the city of Babylon, where Queen Simeramis ruled and the fruit of the mulberry was white as snow there lived the most beautiful of all the youths of the east, Pyramus, and the loveliest of all maidens, Thisbe. Their homes were so close together that one of the walls was shared by both homes. Growing up so closely together as they did it was inevitable that they fell madly in love with each other. They wanted nothing more than to marry and live together forever but their parents disapproved and strictly forbade it. Therefore, they were forced to live apart with that hateful wall separating one from the other. Without the knowledge of their parents they had discovered a small crack in the wall which allowed them to communicate their words of love and longing.

Pyramus and Thisbe talked day in and day out into the crack and when night came they retreated to their separate quarters. When morning would come again they would rush to the wall and whispered softly to each other. They could no longer take the anguish of being apart and they concocted a plan to steal away from their homes when their families had retired for the evening and meet at the well-known Tomb of Ninus, underneath the tree of white mulberries. The two star-crossed lovers, exited over this plan spent their day in a haze of anticipation for the night to come. Finally, night was upon them and Thisbe stole away from her home and rushed to meet with Pyramus. When she reached the tomb Pyramus was nowhere to be found and not wanting to disappoint him Thisbe sat in wait for him.

As she sat there appeared a lioness, whose jaws were red with blood from her recent kill. Wanting to drink of the nearby creek the lioness ignored Thisbe’s presence and Thisbe took the opportunity to flee from the lioness. When the lioness saw the movement of Thisbe fleeing she leapt at her and caught nothing but her cloak as Thisbe may her way far from the beast. Searching for something edible the lioness ripped and tore at the cloak and when she found nothing of interest she retreated once again into the surrounding woods. As fate would have it, Pyramus appears and not seeing his love he begins to search for her. Instead he finds her bloodied, torn cloak. Horrified he fell to his knees and cried for his dead love he took the cloak in his hands and softly kissed it. Blaming his absence for the death of Thisbe he unsheathed his sword and plunged it deep into his chest. The blood from the womb splattered onto the white berries and stained them a deep red.

Meanwhile, Thisbe not wanting to disappoint Pyramus returns to the tomb but when she searching for the tree with the white berries she cannot find it. She finds only red berries and confused she moves in to take a closer look. As she does she notices movement behind the tree. Thinking it is the lioness she begins to flee but when she looks back she sees Pyramus’ hand raising above the hedge. She ran to him and throwing herself at his side takes him in her arms. Feeling her near Pyramus opens his eyes to look at her he whispers her name and then closes his eyes forever. Thisbe seeing the sword next to his deceased body takes it and plunges it into her. Their parents grief stricken by their lose kept their ashes in the same urn together so they would never be apart and the gods in a memorial to them stained all the white mulberries red.

 Orpheus was a brilliant musician whose abilities and beautiful music was rivaled only by that of the gods. With his song he could move mountains and calm even the fiercest of creatures. His gift was given to him by his mother Thrace the muse of music. How Orpheus met Eurydice is still unknown but Orpheus fell in love with her instantly and wooing her with the sweet sound of his lyre they were married soon after.

Only days after the wedding Eurydice was walking in the meadows with her maids talking gaily of her newfound happiness with Orpheus, when she was stung by a viper and taken instantly into death. Orpheus mourned for the death of his wife, whom her loved more than even his music. Realizing that he could not live without out her he set out for Underworld to reclaim her. No other had gone to such lengths for the woman that he loved but Orpheus was convinced that his woeful song would win the sympathy of Persephone the queen of the underworld and she would convince Hades to release his love. As he reached the entrance to the underworld he played upon his lyre a song so sweet and mournful that his song entranced all.

Cerebus the dog at the gates relaxed in his guard, Chairon stopped rowing his boat to listen to this song and even the dreadful furies halted their pestering and wept for Orpheus. Hades and Persephone listened carefully to the voice of Orpheus as he pled with them in his song for the release of his wife. No one could deny him anything he even made irons tears flow down Hades face. Hades told Persephone to bring Eurydice to him and she was allowed to go back with him. There was however one condition, Orpheus was not allowed to look back at his wife until they both had passed the boundaries of the underworld. So Orpheus walked up to the earth once again knowing that his wife was following closely behind. As he made his way onto the earth in his excitement he turned to her expecting her to be passed the threshold but it was to early and she was just on the other side.

As the passage to the underworld turned dark and his wife faded from him he heard only her whisper of farewell. He tried to return to the underworld but the gods would not let him enter alive a second time and he was forced to return to the earth alone. Distraught by his loss Orpheus withdrew himself from the world he lived in the woods of Thrace in solitude. Eventually in his travels alone he came upon a band of crazed Maeneads and they killed him tearing him limb from limb. They sent his head floating along a river. The muses came upon it and buried it along with is limbs they had gathered in a tomb at the foot of Mount Olympus. To this day the nightingale sings the sweetest in that spot.

The sex that he hated so much finally got their revenge on him for there was no man so unhappily in love as Pygmalion. He kissed the statue and touched it hands but to no avail she could never return his love for her. He tried to pretend that she was real dressing her in rich, silky robes, he bought her gifts and food and he imagined that she was grateful and happy. He tucked her into bed at night and aroused her in the morning and imagined her smile and heard her words. Finally he gave up, he was miserable, he was in love with something that was utterly lifeless. Of course no one could ever have a love so passionate and hide it from Aphrodite. She felt sorry for Pygmalion and admired his affections for the statue. In Cyprus the festival of Aphrodite was beginning and hundreds of unhappy lovers flocked to her temple to pray for happiness.

Pygmalion knelt before the altar and prayed to Aphrodite that he could find a woman like his statue. Aphrodite knew what he really wanted and favoring his prayer sent him a sign by lighting a torch nearby. Pygmalion happy because of this good omen returned to his home in good spirits. He rushed home to await his love. When he made it to his house there she stood his creation on top of the pedestal he had placed her motionless. He went to her and kissed her lips as his lips lingered on the cold stone he felt them soften and warm. He was taken aback but when he looked she was still stone. He touched her arms, then her cheeks, and her legs and everywhere he touched she softened and warmed at the feel of him. Her grab on to her wrist and felt the blood rushing through her veins. He thanked Aphrodite and when he took his creation in his hands she smiled at him. Pygmalion named the maiden Galatea and when they wed they had the honor of Aphrodite’s presence at the wedding.

 Daphne was a beautiful young huntress. Her was father was the river god Paneus and he was very distraught with the behavior of his daughter. She hated the idea of love and marriage they were not institutions she wanted to partake in. Paneus brought to her handsome, wealthy and eligible bachelors for courtship but she refused them all. She much preferred the company of the animals and the creatures of the woods to mortals and she never behaved, as a proper maiden should. She was wild and scorned all symbols of daintiness, dresses, jewels etc.

One fateful day Daphne was on the hunt her hair was in disarray she frolicked about her in her short hunting suit with her arms and legs bare, when Apollo came upon her. He was instantly taken by this wild creature and having never been in love before he was surprised by the emotions she stirred in him. He must have her but Daphne was not so easily taken. Not only was she not interested in any man but she was well aware of the fates that befell any woman taken into the favor of a male god. They either died or suffered fates much worse, many were forced to kill the children borne of them and the god in fear of being discovered and sent into exile. He began to pursue and Daphne ran from him thus began the chase. They ran for a long time she running from him and he wanting only to love her. She was swift and gave Apollo a challenge but not for long for he soon caught up to her. He pleaded with her not to be afraid that he was the god of Delphi and all he wanted was to love her if only for a moment. Daphne would not hear it she continued to run from him terrified that she might be captured.

She became increasingly more frightened for she knew that if it was indeed Apollo chasing her that it was inevitable that she would soon be caught. And as surely as she thought it she could feel his breath against the back of her neck. She then caught sight of her father’s river ahead of her and entreated her father to help her. Suddenly a numbness came over her entire body a bark was surrounding her body and leaves were sprouting from it. Her father had turned her into a laurel tree to protect her. Apollo horrified that he had lost his love forever swore that all heroes would wear a wreath of laurel around their heads in memory of her. Whenever triumph was won in the name of Apollo she would share his victory.