The Naiades having undertaken to solve the enigmas of oracles, Themis, offended, sent forth a wild beast to ravage the flocks and fields of the Thebans; though why they should have been held accountable for the doings of the Naiades is not very obvious. The tradition is founded on a passage in Ovid, Metamorphoses , VII 757:⁠—

“Carmina Naïades non intellecta priorum

Solvunt.”

“Carmina Naïades non intellecta priorum Solvunt.”

Heinsius and other critics say that the lines should read,