Pyramus and Thisbe Not all tales of love end so happily, as we see in Ovids tale of Pyramus and Thisbe.
The two lovers reside in Babylon, but their parents hate each other and forbid their marriage. Talking through a crack in the wall of the building their families share, they eventually decide to elope, agreeing to meet outside the city walls at a well-known mulberry tree. Thisbe gets there first but flees when she sees a lioness, intending to come back later. But she drops her cloak, and Pyramus, finding it bloody and torn by the lion, thinks she has been killed by the lion. Pyramus kills himself, covering the white berries of the mulberry tree with blood. Returning to find him dead, Thisbe then kills herself with his sword. The berries of the mulberry tree have forever stayed red to commemorate the tragic end of their love story.
Pyramus and Thisbe are madly in love and they live in houses next to each other at Babylon. Their parents, however, forbid their romance and build a wall between the houses. The lovers find a chink in the wall through which they speak and kiss one another. One night they decided to run away together, meeting at the Tomb of Ninus where a well-known mulberry tree lives. Thisbe arrives first, and she sees a terrifying lioness with blood on its mouth. She runs away in fear, dropping her cloak. The lioness tears up the cloak and bloodies it. When Pyramus arrives, he sees the cloak, assumes his lover has died, and kills himself in sorrow covering the white berries of the mulberry tree with blood. Thisbe returns, sees Pyramus' body, and kills herself with the same knife adding her blood to the berries. From then on, mulberries take on the dark red color of their blood, making the lovers' bond eternal.
