Salmacis

In Lycia and Caria, Hermaphroditus came upon a clear pool edged with grass. The Naiad Salmacis lived there. She did not hunt like her sisters. Instead, she bathed in the spring, combed her hair, rested beside the water and gathered flowers. When the youth came to the secluded grass, she acted as if she would leave him the place. She hid among the shrubs while he moved through the water, first testing it with his feet and then taking off his clothes.

Salmacis returned, plunged into the spring and seized him as he struggled to escape. She wrapped herself around him and prayed that the gods would not separate them. Their bodies fused into one human form. Hermaphroditus, changed by the water, then raised his hands and asked both parents to alter the spring so that men who bathed there would emerge only half male. They granted his request and changed the water.