Polyphonte was transformed into the owl-like strix, which neither ate nor drank and cried during that night, which portended war and sedition for mankind.
In a small act of mercy, Ares and Hermes heeded the female servant's prayer where she had no involvement in the Bear Twins' actions and decided not to transform her into a bird heralding evil for mankind.
It has been suggested that all these tales deal with the function of Artemis within the rituals of Ancient Greece and shed light on how they saw a woman's first sexual encounter.
[9] In so far as the tale details bestiality as a punishment for offending the gods, the myth is also similar to that of Pasiphaë who mated with the Cretan Bull resulting in the Minotaur's birth.
French folklorist Paul Delarue listed this story as an ancient parallel to the European tale of Jean de l'Ours, a strong hero born of a human woman and a bear.