The king of Athens, Pandion, a descendant of Erichthonius, waged war against the barbarians who besieged his city. It would have been difficult for him to defend Athens from a large barbarian army if the king of Thrace, Tereus, had not come to his aid. He defeated the barbarians and drove them out of Attica. As a reward for this, Pandion gave Tereus his daughter Procne as his wife. Tereus returned with his young wife to Thrace. There, a son was soon born to Tereus and Procne. It seemed that the Moirai promised happiness to Tereus and his wife.
Five years have passed since Tereus' marriage. One day Procne began to ask her husband:
“If you still love me, then let me go see my sister or bring her to us.” Go to Athens for my sister, ask your father to let her go and promise that she will come back soon. Seeing my sister will be my greatest happiness.
Tereus prepared the ships for long voyages and soon sailed from Thrace. He safely reached the shores of Attica. Pandion joyfully met his son-in-law and took him to his palace. Before Tereus had time to tell the reason for his arrival in Athens, Philomela, the sister of Procne, entered, equal in beauty to the beautiful nymphs. Tereus was struck by the beauty of Philomela, and he was inflamed with passionate love for her. He began to ask Pandion to let Philomela go to stay with her sister, Procne. Love for Philomela made Tereus’s speeches even more convincing. Philomela herself, not knowing the danger that threatened her, also asked her father to let her go to Procne. Finally, Pandion agreed. Releasing his daughter to distant Thrace, he said to Tereus:
- I entrust you, Tereus, my daughter. By the immortal gods I conjure you, protect her like a father. Hurry up and send Philomela back, because she is the only joy of my old age.
Pandion also asked Philomela:
“My daughter, if you love your old father, come back quickly, don’t leave me alone.”
Pandion said goodbye to his daughter with tears; although heavy forebodings oppressed him, he still could not refuse Tereus and Philomela.
The beautiful daughter of Pandion boarded the ship. The oarsmen struck together with their oars, the ship quickly rushed into the open sea, further and further the coast of Attica. Tereus triumphs. Rejoicing, he exclaimed:
- I won! With me here on the ship is the chosen one of my heart, the beautiful Philomela.
Tereus does not take his eyes off Philomela and does not leave her throughout the journey. Here is the coast of Thrace, the journey is over. The king of Thrace does not take Philomela to his palace; he takes her by force into a dark forest, into a shepherd’s hut, and keeps her there in captivity. Philomela's tears and pleas do not touch him. Philomela suffers in captivity, she often calls her sister and father, often calls on the great Olympian gods, but her prayers and complaints are in vain. Philomela tears out her hair in despair, wrings her hands and laments her fate.
- Oh, harsh barbarian! “- she exclaims, “neither your father’s requests, nor his tears, nor my sister’s concern for me touched you!” You have not preserved the sanctity of your home! Take my life, Tereus, but know: the great gods saw your crime, and if they still have the power, then you will suffer the deserved punishment. I myself will tell you about everything you did! I’ll go to the people myself! If the forests that are around here do not let me leave, I will fill them all with my complaints; let the eternal heavenly Ether hear my complaints, let the gods hear them!
A terrible anger seized Tereus when he heard Philomela’s threats. He pulled out his sword, grabbed Philomela by the hair, tied her up and cut out her tongue so that the unfortunate daughter of Pandion could not tell anyone about his crime. Tereus himself returned to Procne. She asked her husband where her sister was, but Tereus told his wife that her sister had died. Procne mourned the supposedly dead Philomela for a long time.
A whole year has passed. Philomela is languishing in captivity; she cannot let her father or sister know where Tereus is keeping her locked up. Finally, she found a way to notify Procne. She sat down at the loom, wove out her entire terrible story on a bedspread, and secretly sent the blanket to Procne. Procne unrolled the blanket and, to horror, saw her sister’s terrible story woven on it. Procne does not cry, as if in oblivion she wanders like a madwoman around the palace and thinks only about how to take revenge on Tereus.
Those were just the days when the women of Thrace celebrated the festival of Dionysus. Procne also went into the forests with them. On the slopes of the mountains, in a dense forest, she found a hut in which her husband kept Philomela in captivity. Procne freed her sister and brought her secretly to the palace.
“Philomela has no time for tears now,” said Procne, “tears will not help us.” We must act not with tears, but with the sword. I am ready for the most terrible crime, just to avenge both you and Tereus for myself. I am ready to put him to the most terrible death!
While Procne was saying this, her son came in to her.
“Oh, how much you look like your father,” Procne exclaimed, looking at her son.
She suddenly fell silent, sternly knitting her eyebrows. Procne planned a terrible crime; she was driven to this crime by the anger bubbling in her chest. And the son trustingly approached her, he hugged his mother with his arms and reached out to her to kiss her. For one moment, pity awoke in Procne’s heart, tears welled up in her eyes; She hastily turned away from her son, and from looking at her sister, furious anger flared up in her chest again. Procne grabbed her son by the hand and took him to the distant chamber of the palace. There she took a sharp sword and, turning away, plunged it into her son’s chest. Procne and Philomela cut the body of the unfortunate boy into pieces, boiled part of it in a cauldron, and roasted part of it on a spit and prepared a terrible meal for Tereus. Procne herself served Tereus, and he, suspecting nothing, ate food prepared from the body of his beloved son. During the meal, he remembered his son Tereus and ordered to call him. Procne, rejoicing in her revenge, answered him:
- Within you is the one you call!
Tereus did not understand her words, he began to insist that they call his son. Then Philomela suddenly came out from behind the curtain and threw her son’s bloody head into Tereus’s face. Tereus shuddered in horror; he realized how terrible his meal was. He cursed his wife and Philomela. Pushing the table away from him, he jumped up from the bed and, drawing his sword, chased after Procne and Philomela to take revenge on them with his own hands for the murder of his son, but he could not overtake them. Their wings grow, they turn into two birds - Philomela into a swallow, and Procne into a nightingale. The swallow Philomela also has a bloody stain on her chest from the blood of her son Tereus. Tereus himself was turned into a hoopoe, with a long beak and a large crest on his head. Like the warlike Tereus on his helmet, so the hoopoe has a crest of feathers fluttering on his head.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru