Content Warning: This portion of the guide refers to scenes involving rape.

Because “Galatea” is a retelling of the Pygmalion myth, the story as a whole can be seen as an extended allusion to the Pygmalion story in Ovid’s Metamorphoses. However, it contains more subtle references to other narratives. Early in the story, while trying to avoid smelling the doctor’s garlic-scented breath, Galatea stands at the window and tells the doctor she loves the scent of the narcissus. This is an allusion to the myth of Echo and Narcissus, which appears in Book III of Ovid’s text and tells the story of a beautiful young man, Narcissus, who falls in love with his own reflection; his rejected lover, Echo, eventually turns to stone.

Later, Galatea says that she and Paphos play a game in which she pretends to be a sheep or a goat and Paphos pretends to be a shepherd. This is an allusion to a story in Book XIV of the Metamorphoses, in which a shepherd mocks a group of nymphs who are engaged in a dancing ritual, and as a result is transformed into an olive tree.