Handel's lost Hamburg operas Daphne while the other would-be lovers manoeuvre for position. Lycoris assures Apollo that Daphne's abandonment of the wedding was a signal that she favours him. Lycoris also steals Daphne's cloak and, wearing it as a disguise, makes advances to Damon, having first ensured that Florindo overhears. Florindo is enraged by what he believes is Daphne's duplicity, and denounces her. Damon confirms the story. Daphne, bewildered, pleads with her father Peneus to prove her innocence; he responds by transforming her into a laurel tree. Cupid blames Apollo's pride for the fiasco, but gives him the laurel as his "special tree". Florindo
Peneus Peneus In Greek mythology, Peneus (; Ancient Greek: Πηνειός) was a Thessalian river god, one of the three thousand Rivers (Potamoi), a child of Oceanus and Tethys. The nymph Creusa bore him one son, Hypseus, who was King of the Lapiths, and three daughters, Menippe (mother of Phrastor by Pelasgus), Daphne and Stilbe. He also had a son Atrax with Bura, and Andreus with an unknown consort. Tricce, eponym of the city Tricca, was mentioned as his daughter. Some sources state that he was the father of Cyrene, alternately known as his granddaughter through Hypseus. Daphne, in an Arcadian version