TEREUS, PROCNE, PHILOMELA, & ITYS
In Greek mythology, Tereus was a Thracian king, the husband of the Athenian princess Procne and the father of Itys. When Tereus desired his wife's sister, Philomela, he came to Athens to ask for his hand in marriage, stating that Procne had died. Philomela and guards were sent to Tereus who threw the guards into the sea, raped Philomela, and cut her tongue out so she could never tell anyone. Philomela wove letters in a tapestry depicting Tereus's crime and sent it secretly to Procne. In revenge and anger, Procne killed Itys, and then fled with her sister. Tereus pursued the sisters and tried to kill them but all three were changed by the Olympian Gods into birds: Tereus became a hawk, Procne became the swallow whose song is a song of mourning for the loss of her child, and Philomela became the female nightingale who has no song.