Melampus

Melampus rescued two baby snakes, orphaned when their parents were killed by his servants. In their gratitude, they crept upon him while he was sleeping and licked his ears. Suddenly, upon awakening, he discovered that he understood the language of all creatures. He became a great soothsayer, even saving himself once: when captured by enemies he heard the worms saying that the roof was about to collapse. He asked his guards to move him. They did and when the roof fell in, they understood his gifts and set him free.

Psamathe

Psamathe from Argos, was a Nereid: a sea nymph, one of the fifty daughters of Nereus and Doris. From her union with Apollo, she bore her son, Linus, and then deserted him on a hillside. Shepherds raised him, but he was devoured by dogs before he reached adulthood. When Psamathe’s father heard what she had done, he ordered her killed. Apollo, upon hearing of the death of Psamathe and Linus, cursed Argos with a plague until both of them were propitiated with songs of lamentation. The “Linus Song” a lament for the dying vegetation is sung at harvest time in their memory.