1a] Sad love stories

1a]
One fine day, they decided to run away from their homes and meet the
next day under a mulberry tree near tomb of Ninus. Thisbe was the
first one to reach on spot and was waiting for Pyramus.
That's when the tragedy struck and story took a devastating turn.There
was a fountain nearby where a lioness came to quench her thirst. The
sight of lioness made Thisbe panic and she hurried to safety in some
hollow rocks nearby. While she was running she left her veil behind.
The lioness came near, sniffed the veil and tore it in his bloody
jaws. At that very moment, Pyramus arrived near the mulberry tree and
found the tattered blood stained veil. He thought that his love was
dead and was completely devastated. He blamed himself to be the cause
of Tisbe's death and in a moment of agony, pierced his chest with his
own sword. Tisbe, who was still hiding in the rocks, came out of her
hiding place and seeing the dead body of her lover, she was totally
shattered and grief-stricken. She also took the sword and killed
herself and thus one of the purest love stories ended in pain and
death.
Pocahontas and John Smith
Though love stories from different places are told in contrasting
styles and languages yet the charm of romance remains the same. Love
is like a blissful flow of emotion. Love knows no barriers, caste,
creed, discrimination and status. It dictates terms on its own and has
a habit of standing against allodds. How many times, have we come
across tales of love managing to survive despite the insurmountable
odds? Many times perhaps and yet we are nottired of love tales that
has a heart-breaking end. These tales belong to different centuries
but still manage to enthral us. Painful romantic stories are timeless
and have carved themselves in immortality. There are plenty of love
stories to be shared like Helen of troy and Paris, Abelard and
Heliose, Pygmalion and Galatea and Pocahontas and JohnSmith.
The story of Pocahontas and JohnSmith is a celebrated legend in the
history of America. Pocahontas was the daughter of Powhatan. She was
an Indian princess. Powhatan was the commanding chief of the
Algonquian Indians in the Tidewater region of Virginia. According to
legend, the first meeting between Pocahontas and John Smith took place
under unusual circumstances. John Smith was leading an expedition in
December 1607 and because of certain misunderstanding Indians
captivated him. Smith was taken to the residence of Powhatan where he
was tortured. But he was saved by Pocahontas who helped him
tremendously to get him out of his misery.
Pocahontas felt an instant liking for John Smith and found him
immensely attractive and appealing. Soon enough Powhatan adopted Smith
as his son and from there onwards, the friendship between Pocahontas
and Smith started taking deep roots. They started to come closerto
each other but destiny had some other plans. John Smith hadto return
back to England after getting badly injured due to gunpowder
explosion. Pocahontas was constantly worried about him and decided to
make a visit to the fort but unfortunately there she was informed that
Smith was dead.
Things started to change rapidly and soon after, Pocahontas was taken
prisoner by Sir Samuel Argall who had some devious plans of his own.
He demanded return of English prisoners from Powhatan in return of
Pocahontas. In the meantime, Pocahontas decided to become a Christian
during her captivity. Justa year later, she married John Rolfe. She
met John Smith after aneternal gap of eight years while visiting
London. This was also their last meeting.