Pyramus and Thisbe

Though a Greek myth, this story takes place in the empire of Babylon. 

The story of Pyramus and Thisbe is very similar to Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare, except this one is much more ancient and has transformation in it. It starts our with a pair of lovers who meet each other because they are neighbors, but their parents forbid them to be together. They communicate through a hole in the wall that separates their houses. They find ways of communicating through this small hole, like by using sign language and nodding their heads. 

Eventually, they reach a point in their relationship where they can no longer stay apart from each other, so they plan an escape that will allow them to be together at last. They plan to deceive the guards at their houses, and escape by the rooftops of the city. Then they plan to meet under a mull berry tree and begin their new lives together, happily in love. Thisbe makes it to their meeting place first, a burial site near the mull berry tree, before Pyramus does. 

She sits under the tree, which has white leaves, and soon sees a lion approaching. The lion's mouth is covered in blood, as it has just killed a small cow. As it starts to move towards Thisbe, it scares her and she runs into a cave. The lion walks over and picks up her veil, and covers it in blood before dropping it back on the ground. 

Then Pyramus shows up, and sees the bloody veil, and thinks that Thisbe was killed by the lion that was walking away. He pulls out a dagger from his belt stabs himself in the groin, all the while laying under the mull berry tree. Thisbe comes out of the cave and finds him dying there. She tries to revive him,by calling out his name, but he won't respond. 

She says, "It is your lover, Thisbe!" At the name of Thisbe, Pyramus looked up and saw her, then closed his eyes and died. So she kills herself with the same dagger, and the mulberry tree's leaves turn red to show the blood the lovers spilled for each other. Their parents learn of their deaths, and bury them in the same funeral urn, upon Thisbe's last request to the gods. They lay together in death for eternity.