BLACK MULBERRY. 



their respective parents. They found means to arrange a 

 meeting at the tomb of Ninus. Thisbe first came to the place 

 of rendezvous, where she saw a lion which had torn an ox 

 in pieces just before, and she fled alarmed, losing in her 

 flight her garment, which the wild animal soiled with blood. 

 Pyramus, finding her garment covered with blood, supposed 

 she had been murdered, and in his frenzy destroyed himself 

 beneath a Mulberry-tree. Thisbe ventured to return, when 

 she found her lover dead, and killed herself in her grief. 

 Their mingled blood was drunk up by the tree, the fruit of 

 which w^as thenceforth black : — 



" Dark in the rising tide the berries grew, 

 And v/hite no longer, took a sable hue ; 

 But brighter crimson springing from the root, 

 Shot through the black, and purpled all the fruit.'' 



Cowley alludes to the fable in speaking of this tree : — 



"In two short months her purple fruit appears, 

 And of two lovers slain the tincture wears." 



A French author commends the maiden's modesty in her 

 dying moments : — 



" Elle tombe, et, tombant, range ses vetements ; 

 Dernier trait de pudeur, meme aux derniers moments. 

 Les nymphes d'alentour lui donnerent des larmes ; 

 Et du sang des amants teignirent, par des charmes, 

 Le fruit d'un murier proche, et blanc jusqu'k ce jour, 

 Eternel monument d'un si parfait amour." 



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