Phyllis

Phyllis (Greek: Φυλλίς) is a character in Greek mythology, daughter of a Thracian king (according to some, of Sithon; most other accounts do not give her father's name at all, but one informs that he was named either Philander, Ciasus, or Thelus). She married Demophon, King of Athens and son of Theseus, while he stopped in Thrace on his journey home from the Trojan War. Demophon, duty bound to Greece, returns home to help his father, leaving Phyllis behind. She sends him away with a casket, telling him that it contained a sacrament of Rhea and asking him to open it only if he has given up hope of returning to her. From here, the story diverges. In one version, Phyllis realizes that he will not return and commits suicide by hanging herself from a tree. Where she is buried, an almond tree grows, which blossoms when Demophon returns to her. In a second version of the story, Demophon opens the casket and, horrified by what he saw in there, rides off in such great haste that his horse stumbles and he accidentally falls on his own sword. There is also some confusion regarding which nut tree she became, as hazelnuts were long called nux Phyllidos, and are still sometimes called "filberts" today. In English, this version goes back at least to Gower, who writes in Confessio Amantis (c