28 THE SWALLOW 



from her prison. At length she found a 

 way to send word to her sister. She em- 

 broidered upon a peplos, or linen robe, 

 the story of her misfortune, and sent the 

 robe to Procne. Upon receiving the gar- 

 ment Procne read the tale, and, taking 

 advantage of a public feast in honor of 

 the god Bacchus, she pretended that she 

 was mad, made her way outside the city 

 walls and hastened to her sister. She 

 found Philomela in her prison, set her free, 

 and took her at once to her home in the 

 royal palace of Tereus. 



From that day the two sisters thought 

 only of vengeance for the cruel deed, and 

 they, found a revenge so terrible as almost 

 to surpass belief. Procne had a little son 

 by the name of Itys. The sisters resolved 

 to kill the boy. As soon as Tereus dif- 

 covered the plot he seized an ax and pur- 

 sued the two sisters to kill them. As he 

 was almost upon them, they prayed to the 

 gods to change them into birds. Procne 



