“Let me see that book,” said the curé; “we shall find in it a fund of amusement. Here we shall find that famous knight, Don Kyrie Elyson, of Montalban, and Thomas, his brother, with the Knight Fonseca, the battle which Detriantê fought with Alano, the stratagems of the Widow Tranquil, the amour of the empress with her squire, and the witticisms of Lady Brillianta. This is one of the most amusing books ever written.”--Cervantes, Don Quixote, I. i. 6 (1605).
Tiresias, a Theban soothsayer, blind from boyhood. It is said that Athêna deprived him of sight, but gave him the power of understanding the language of birds, and a staff as good as eyesight to direct his way. Ovid says that Tiresias met two huge serpents in the wood and struck them with his staff, when he found himself turned into a woman, in which shape he remained for seven years. In the eighth year, meeting them again, he again struck them, and was changed back to a man. Dante places Tiresias in the Eighth Chasm of the Fourth Circle of the Lower Hell among the sorcerers, and other dealers in magic arts.
Behold Tiresias, who changed his aspect
When of male he was made female,
Altogether transforming his members.
And afterward he had again to strike
The two involved serpents with his rod
Before he could resume his manly plumes.
Dante, Inferno, xx. 40.
Meeting two mighty serpents in the green wood he struck their intertwined bodies with his staff, and, oh, wonderful! he found himself changed into a woman, and so remained for seven years. Again he sees them, in the eighth year. “And if,” he cried, “so powerful was the effect of my former blow, once more will I strike you!” And, the serpents struck with the same blows, his former shape returned, and his original nature.--Ovid, Metamorphoses, iii.