Philomela

fil-o-me'la, in Greek mythology, daughter of Pandion, a king of Athens. Procne, her sister, married Tereus, a Thracian king. Tereus, however, preferred Philomela. He therefore pretended that Procne was dead, having cut out her tongue that she might tell no tales, and thus won Philomela. Procne wove the story of her wrongs into a web and thus acquainted her sister with the truth. The two women in revenge slew the child of Tereus and served him to his father at table. In punishment for so terrible a crime the gods transformed Philomela into a nightingale; Procne into a swallow. Then Tereus, who was to blame in the beginning, was changed into a hawk who should ever pursue the other two birds. See Nightingale