Leto and Niobe were

                                   the very best of friends

*****

Leto and Niobe: Leto: mother of the gods, Apollo and Artemis. Niobe: mother of seven daughters and seven sons, she boasted that she was therefore superior to Leto, although Leto’s two children were divine. Apollo and Artemis then killed Niobe’s children in revenge. Niobe wept for them continuously and became a column of stone from which her tears continued to flow.