Pyramus and Thisbe
This tale involves two lovers in a situation similar to that of Hero and Leander and presents somewhat of a pre-Romeo and Juliet scenario.
They would meet at night, near a mulberry tree outside the city. One evening Thisbe arrived, but fled when she saw a lioness approaching.
In her haste, she dropped her cloak. The lioness, fresh from a hunt, mauled the cloth with its blood-stained paws, and retreated.
Pyramus soon arrived and discovered the cloak with the blood - and naturally assumed the worst. In agony, he stabbed himself; his blood splattered on the mulberries, which have been red ever since.
Thisbe found his body and commits suicide herself.
