Daughter of Cinyras king of Cyprus who burned with unlawful love for her father — discovered after nights of darkness, she fled and became the myrrh-tree, and from its bark Lucina delivered Adonis anointed with his mother's weeping sap.1
Cinyras might have been happy but for his daughter Myrrha, whom Cupid denies having inflamed — one of the Furies, Ovid says, poisoned her with Styx-fire. Princes of the Orient sought her hand, but she wanted only her father.2
Myrrha tried to hang herself; her nurse discovered the cause and, after swearing secrecy, arranged for the king to take an unknown girl during the rites of Ceres when wives abstain from men. For many nights Cinyras did not know his mistress — until he brought a lamp and saw his daughter. Sword in hand he pursued her; she fled into exile.3
Wandering nine months, Myrrha prayed to be neither among the living nor the dead; the gods answered by rooting her feet, hardening her skin to bark, and closing her face in wood while warm tears became fragrant myrrh. Lucina split the trunk and Adonis was born — a boy so beautiful Envy herself must praise him.4
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the spine ignites as you read · hover a bond on the card — every mention of them lights in the story