blockquote> io doesn't fit any pattern. why? why is it she's the only female who gets caught and not transformed? sure she becomes a heifer, but that's much later. why doesn't she become saved through metamorphoses, like daphne and arethusa, but is punished through her transformation? the muses get away because they are muses. goddesses don't run, they punish. people like callisto and philomela and persephone get raped, but that's either through deceit or violence. but no one i can think of who actually makes a run for it gets caught. they're always transformed in flight by either actually taking flight (procne philomela scylla) or as nohrnberg points out, they become the opposite of fugitive - they are immobilised by becoming a myrrh tree or a fountain or a reed. they might be possessed in the end, but only as a kind of arty symbol. a panpipe or a laurel crown. unless you count atalanta, and that's only because of the golden apples. but doesn't atalanta's story favour running? if you can outrun your suitors, you can be safe. hmm. back to paper.