The Legend of Thisbe and Pyramus

For the Greeks, the mulberry tree was the plant consecrated to the god Pan, rich in symbolism, intelligence and
passion and it is right at her feet that the love drama of Thisbe and Pyramus takes place,
as Ovid tells in his ‘Metamorphoses’. The two young Babylonians, in love
Madly, they were locked in the cellar by their respective families, who were against their love.

A slight crack, however, allowed them to communicate and so they agreed to attract their
guardians in a trap, then escape and find themselves in the woods where there was a spring and a
mulberry tree. The first to flee was Thisbe but, while she was near the spring, she saw
a lioness with a mouth covered in blood who had evidently just devoured a
teach.

Frightened, she ran away but, in her run, she lost the shawl that was wrapped around her. The beast, seeing
the garment, before moving away, pounced on it, tearing it and turning it red. Immediately
Then came Pyramus who, not seeing his beloved but what remained of her shawl, thought
that Thisbe had been killed. In desperation, he slowly pulled his sword from its sheath.
dagger, he took his own life.

As the young man breathed his last, Thisbe returned, heartbroken and incredulous, clutching her
to his love’s breast and kissing him before taking the same dagger, he stabbed himself. It is said
that the blood of Pyramus, watering the ground, nourished the mulberry tree whose fruit, from that day on,
white became black.

Pliny the Elder he defined the mulberry tree: “The wisest of trees“, the wisest of the trees, because
patiently waits for even the later frosts to be averted before releasing the
foliage. The Latin writer had always learned about its properties and recommended eating its leaves.
fruits mixed with honey, saffron and myrrh against sore throat and stomach problems.

Dioscoride, Greek botanist and pharmacologist, also considered it an excellent medicinal remedy against
ulcers and catarrh. White mulberry, scientific name “White mulberry“, comes from the Far
East and was Marco Polo to discover it during his trip to China towards the end of 1200; but only
It spread throughout Europe around 1400. In the municipal statutes of 1300 the
planting of “Morus alba” to all landowners and severe sanctions decreed for those who do so
damaged the plants; Black mulberry, Black mulberry, however, was not lacking in the cloisters
medieval times where it was used by friars or for the production of a wine called ‘Friends
delayed” or to intensify the color of red wine.

Improperly called “blackberry”, it is actually a sorosio, a false fruit made up of many
small spheres grouped together and, in turn, formed by the real fruit covered by a white pulp
edible rose. Sun-loving, it tolerates both frost and drought, and one of its cradles
Our Sicily is privileged. Today scientific research has confirmed that its leaves,
Due to the active ingredients they contain, they are able to rebalance the metabolism.

We close with a reflection: separation walls are always harbingers of tragedies, so
as impediments to freedom. History, in this case Legend, teacher of life.