Ovid's version of this story is as follows: Procne's sister Philomel is raped by Procne's husband, Tereus. When Philomel threatens to tell the world of Tereus crime, Tereus cuts off her tongue and holds her prisoner in a cabin. Philomela nevertheless manages to tell her sister by conveying a written message to her, and in revenge Procne, aided by Philomela, butchers her and Tereus' son Itys and make Tereus eat him. Philomela then, during dinner, throws the head of Itys to Tereus, who, maddened at the sight runs outside, and after chasing Philomel and Procne who escape by turning into nightingales, he himself turns into a lapwing. Afterwards, Philomela's name became a poetic reference to the nightingale. In some references Itys is attributed to Philomela and she has been turned into a nightingale by Jupiter as punishment for killing her own son, apparently by mistake, but this is not the case in Ovid's version of the story.

see also