Like Romeo and Juliet, the story of Pyramus and Thisbe tells of young lovers coming to a tragic end. Pyramus and Thisbe were neighbors in love. Sadly, their families didn’t get along.
Forbidden from each other, the young couple whispered messages through a cracked wall between their houses. They formed a plan to meet one night at a fountain by Ninus’ tomb, under a white mulberry tree.
As she waited by the tree that night, Thisbe saw a lioness approaching, her jaws coated in blood. Thisbe ran away, dropping her veil.The whole story can be found at http://readingshakespeare.wordpress.com/2011/09/19/review-a-midsummer-night25e225802599s-dream-bbc-radio-3-11911/ The lioness pounced on the veil, smearing it with blood.
Soon Pyramus arrived. Seeing the lioness and bloody veil, he assumed Thisbe was dead. Grief-stricken, he plunged his sword into his heart. The white mulberries on the nearby tree were stained dark red with his blood.
Finally Thisbe returned to the meeting spot. She saw Pyramus dead with her veil beside him. She cried out to the gods in grief, asking that the mulberries retain their dark red color in memory of the blood shed that night. Then she plunged Pyramus’ sword into her own breast. The gods heard her plea, and mulberries have been dark red ever since.
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