# Story of Pyramus and Thisbe explained — Metamorphoses > Chapter companion for Metamorphoses by Ovid. ## What happens Pyramus and Thisbe, two Babylonian lovers forbidden by their parents to marry, communicate through a chink in the wall and plan to meet under a mulberry tree. Thisbe arrives first but flees from a lioness, dropping her veil which the lioness bloodies. Pyramus finds the veil, assumes Thisbe is dead, and kills himself. Thisbe returns, discovers his body, and also dies by his sword. Their blood stains the mulberry fruit permanently purple, and their ashes are united in a single urn. ## Themes in this chapter ### Love and Desire The lovers' passion defies parental prohibition and leads to their tragic deaths. ### Transformation and Metamorphosis The white mulberry fruit is permanently stained purple by the lovers' blood, symbolizing their eternal union. ### Fate and Prophecy The lovers' plan and the lioness's appearance set an unavoidable chain of events leading to their deaths. ## Character check-ins ### Pyramus A Babylonian youth who falls in love with Thisbe; he mistakenly believes she is dead and stabs himself. ### Thisbe A beautiful maiden who loves Pyramus; she flees from a lioness and later dies by Pyramus's sword. ## Key lines > In Babylon, where first her queen, for state, Raised walls of brick magnificently great, Lived Pyramus and Thisbe, lovely pair! In Babylon, where the queen built grand brick walls, there lived the beautiful couple Pyramus and Thisbe. _Introduces the setting and the lovers._ > Love had been crown'd, but, impotently mad, What parents could not hinder, they forbade: Their love was strong, but their parents, unable to prevent it, forbade their relationship. _Highlights the parental opposition._ > When the division-wall was built, a chink Was left, the cement unobserved to shrink. A small crack was left in the wall between their houses, unnoticed because the cement shrank. _Describes the secret passage for their communication._ > But, oh! what thing so small, so secret lies, Which 'scapes, if form'd for love, a lover's eyes? No secret is too small for a lover to discover. _Emphasizes the power of love to find hidden opportunities._ > At last their parents they resolve to cheat (If to deceive in love he call'd deceit), To steal by night from home, and thence unknown To seek the fields, and quit the unfaithful town. They decide to deceive their parents and sneak out at night to meet in the fields outside the city. _The lovers' plan to elope._ > The tomb of Ninus was the mark they chose. There they might rest secure beneath the shade, Which boughs, with snowy fruit encumber'd, made: A wide-spread mulberry its rise had took Just on the margin of a gurgling brook. They agreed to meet at the tomb of Ninus, under a mulberry tree with white fruit, near a brook. _Sets the meeting place and the tree that will be transformed._ > When, lo! a lioness rush'd o'er the plain, Grimly besmear'd with blood of oxen slain: Suddenly, a lioness covered in the blood of oxen ran across the plain. _The lioness's appearance causes Thisbe to flee._ > She found the veil, and, mouthing it all o'er, With bloody jaws the lifeless prey she tore. The lioness found Thisbe's veil and tore it with her bloody jaws. _The veil is bloodied, leading to Pyramus's mistaken conclusion._ > Then in his breast his shining sword he drown'd, And fell supine extended on the ground. He plunged his sword into his chest and fell backward onto the ground. _Pyramus's suicide._ > The berries, stain'd with blood, began to show A dark complexion, and forgot their snow, While, fatten'd with the flowing gore, the root Was doom'd for ever to a purple fruit. The white berries turned dark from the blood, and the root, nourished by the gore, was fated to produce purple fruit forever. _The metamorphosis of the mulberry fruit._ > She raised the body, and embraced it round, And bathed with tears unfeign'd the gaping wound; Then her warm lips to the cold face applied, 'And is it thus, ah! thus we meet?' she cried, She lifted his body, hugged him, and wept over his wound, then kissed his cold face, crying out in despair. _Thisbe's grief upon finding Pyramus dead._ > At Thisbe's name, awaked, he open'd wide His dying eyes, with dying eyes he tried On her to dwell, but closed them slow, and died. Hearing Thisbe's name, Pyramus opened his dying eyes, tried to look at her, then slowly closed them and died. _Pyramus's final moment of recognition._ > She spoke, and in her bosom plunged the sword, All warm and reeking from its slaughter'd lord. She then plunged the sword, still warm and bloody from Pyramus, into her own chest. _Thisbe's suicide._ > The whiteness of the mulberry soon fled, And, ripening, sadden'd in a dusky red; While both their parents their lost children mourn, And mix their ashes in one golden urn. The mulberry fruit turned from white to a dark red, and the parents mourned and placed their children's ashes together in a golden urn. _The final transformation and the lovers' union in death._ ## Links - HTML: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/metamorphoses_se/chapters/story-of-pyramus-and-thisbe - Book: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/metamorphoses_se - All chapters: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/metamorphoses_se/chapters