according to ovid's myth, she fell in love with hermaphroditus, the son of hermes and aphrodite. when he bathed in her spring, she embraced him and prayed to the gods to be united with him forever, the gods heard her prayer and merged their bodies together, transforming hermaphroditus into an androgynous being. hermaphroditus then cursed the spring of salmacis, so that any man who drank or bathed in its water would also become androgynous.