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The following description of the story is taken from
“Music and the Picture Plane: Poussin's 'Pyramus and
Thisbe' and Morton Feldman's 'For Philip Guston'” by
Barbara Monk Feldman: “The legend as it is told in Ovid's Metamorphoses is as follows: Pyramus and Thisbe fall in love but their families refuse to allow them to marry. They communicate secretly with each other through a crack in the wall that separates their homes. Soon they decide to arrange a meeting at
night outside the city, at the site of Ninus's tomb, which
lies in the shadow of a tall mulberry tree. Thisbe arrives first and encounters a lioness fresh from a kill, prowling in the darkness. She escapes into a cave in fear and loses her cloak, which the lioness tramples and stains with blood. Pyramus arrives moments later and discovers the beast's footprints in the dust, and recognizes the torn and bloodied garment. Believing that Thisbe has been devoured by the creature, he thrusts his sword into his side. Thisbe returns to the mulberry tree whose fruit has now turned a deep rose color from Pyramus' blood. She notices the new colors on the tree and begins to feel disoriented, wondering if she has returned to the same place. She sees something stirring on the blood-soaked ground and steps back, her face turning pale. It is Pyramus. She runs to him and calls out. He opens his eyes and sees
her face one last time, as though she were a vision, before his eyes close forever. Thisbe recognizes the cloak nearby, understands immediately what has happened, and takes her life with Pyramus' sword. The families reconcile their differences and agree to bury the ashes of the two lovers in the same urn.”
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