Canens (singer) In Roman mythology, a nymph, the daughter of Janus and Venilia. She pined away when her husband, Picus, was lost. Picus was a handsome youth and Canens a nymph who attracted trees and rocks by her voice, soothed wild beasts, detained the birds, and halted rivers in their courses. One day Circe made sexual advances toward Picus. The youth refused, and the angry Circe turned him into a woodpecker. Canens searched for Picus for six days and nights. At last, melting with grief, she pined away and by degrees vanished into the air. Ovid’s Metamorphoses (book 14) tells the tragic tale of Canens and Picus.
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SOURCE:
Encyclopedia of World Mythology and Legend, Third Edition – Written by Anthony S. Mercatante & James R. Dow– Copyright © 2009 by Anthony S. Mercatante
