And in Orkhomenes, in Boeotia, they did not want to immediately recognize the god Dionysus. When the priest of Dionysus-Bacchus appeared in Orchomen and invited all the girls and women to the forests and mountains for a merry festival in honor of the god of wine, the three daughters of King Minias did not go to the festival; they did not want to recognize Dionysus as a god. All the women of Orkhomenes left the city for the shady forests and there they celebrated the great god with singing and dancing. Entwined with ivy, with thyrsus in their hands, they rushed with loud cries, like maenads, through the mountains and praised Dionysus. And the daughters of King Orkhomenes sat at home and calmly spun and weaved; They didn’t want to hear anything about the god Dionysus. Evening came, the sun set, and the king’s daughters still did not give up their work, rushing to finish it at all costs. Suddenly a miracle appeared before their eyes. The sounds of tympanums and flutes were heard in the palace, threads of yarn turned into vines, and heavy grapes hung on them. The looms turned green: they were thickly covered with ivy. The fragrance of myrtle and flowers spread everywhere. The king's daughters looked at this miracle with surprise. Suddenly, throughout the entire palace, already shrouded in evening twilight, the ominous light of torches began to sparkle. The roar of wild animals was heard. Lions, panthers, lynxes and bears appeared in all the chambers of the palace. They ran around the palace with a menacing howl and their eyes flashed furiously. In horror, the king's daughters tried to hide in the farthest, darkest rooms of the palace, so as not to see the shine of torches and not hear the roaring of animals. But it’s all in vain, they can’t hide anywhere. The punishment of the god Dionysus did not stop there. The princesses' bodies began to shrink, became covered with dark mouse fur, instead of arms, wings with a thin membrane grew - they turned into bats. Since then, they have been hiding from daylight in dark, damp ruins and caves. This is how Dionysus punished them.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru