Mythology

The night of love of the virgin of Phaestos
or Iphis metamorphosed into a boy

Life is soft in the country of Phaestos 
In the Island of Crete near the kingdom of Cnossos
Over there where reigns the terrible Cronos
The kings as much as the boors
Wishes to marry their virgin daughter to the most valorous of the males 

Ligdus who has ambition, dreams of a boy 
And it is to his wife Telethusa that he transmits his request
They loved each other for so many moons
And they impatiently wait for the fruit of their union 

But it is a girl who is born, whose mother,
To hide her true nature and to avoid the angers of Ligdus 
Dressed and raises as if it was a boy
Iphis is her name

When the day comes, Ligdus, impatient to marry Iphis 
Chooses the most beautiful of all the girls of Phaestos
Ianthé, virgin and bearing a great name 
Daugther of Telestes of Dicte
Will be the wife of his son 
Whom, he does not know the real condition

Telethusa who fears this union 
Delays with crafts and lies, the day of the union 
Of the child with boy's clothings and with the attributes of a girl 
With the most virgin of the beauties of Phaestos
 
She implores the goddess Isis to help her
To modify the true nature of Iphis
To lavish her with the necessary attributes to make her a boy 
The day when it will be necessary to love her
That he unveil himself to the always virgin Ianthe 

But she cannot delay indefinitely the day of the hymenium
And today her daughter Iphis disguised as a boy
Take as a wife, the soft and beautiful Ianthe 
The prayers of Telethusa 
Having been useless to wake up the hidden powers of the goddess Isis 

Iphis in spite of the fact she is a girl
Is not insensitive to the charms of Ianthe 
Having bathed in the games of boys 
She awaits with impatience the moment 
When she will have to slide her body of young girl
Over the naked body of the virgin and beautiful Ianthe
But her heart despite everything is disturbed 

" Among the animals,
there is no female
who is never in prey with the desire 
for another female."

" Ianthe will become mine
without being really united with me; 
we will know thirst in the middle of the ocean. 
O Hymenium, 
who govern marriage, 
what good is this union in the bridal bed 
where there is no husband, 
and where we are two wives? "


That night on the peaceful country of Phaestos 
While the kings the boors and Ligdus fall asleep
And that remorse invades the heart of Telethusa 
Begins the night of love of the virgins of Phaestos 

  
    

      


  
    

      

Iphis with audacity undertakes Ianthe 
As if she knew since always 
The marvellous gestures of love
Ianthe who hardly discovers them 
Let herself caress and love by the impetuous Iphis 
Without letting peep the least surprise 
In front of the feminine attributes of her husband 
      

    

Their identical bodies meet and imbricate 
And the fury of their pressure does leave no doubt 
About the pleasure they lavish each other 
Without having to penetrate themselves
And thus says Ianthe to herself
That is what Love must be 
    


    

Over there, in the country of Paretonium, of the fields of Mareotide, of Pharos and of the Nile
Still dazed by the divine orgies 
Wakes up with sorrow, the great Goddess Isis 
Always late to fulfill the desires of Her sheeps
She knows well that in spite of that 
They will be always faithful and docile to Her
As must be all the subjects and the boors

She decides to fulfill the desires of Telethusa 
And to transform into a boy, the beautiful and loving Iphis 
Always lengthened over the body in fright 
Of the beautiful and always virgin Ianthe of Phaestos 
And Iphis to gradually metamorphose herself into a boy

Ianthe who is defenseless but who fear nothing more 
Feel her body suddenly transpierced by a powerful dart 
That draw off cries and tears from her
While the fragile flesh of her hymen breaks 
Under the violence of the attacks of her husband 

She does not know any more if it is what Love should be
Preferring to that, the more tender gestures 
Of the preliminaries of Love, before Iphis 
Less soft did decide to penetrate her
With, she does not know too much, what monstrous instrument
                                 
She repells Iphis with energy 
Trying to escape from the embrace of this lover
Suddenly becoming virile and too undertaking 
She turns back to her mother to seek the comfort 
For a distracted virgin
Of having been raped by a disgusting Satyr 
Ianthe since then, despised by her parents
Took refuge in the island of Lesbos 
We see her sometimes on the shores of Methymne 
Lend her charms to the delirious Menades.