This story takes place in Ancient Greece. Not many men or even gods were as
handsome as young Narcissus. One day Narcissus was roaming the forests with
his hunting companions, when he was spied upon by the watchful eye of the nymph
Echo.
Echo once loved to chatter, but then she got rude and started
interrupting people. Finally, she started being rude to Hera (the #1
Goddess), too. Hera was so mad that she cursed Echo so she could only repeat
the last few words she heard.
Ashamed of herself, Echo hid out in the
woods. When she first saw the handsome Narcissus, she fell love with him
right away. One day Narcissus wandered
away from his group, so Echo finally got the courage to try to talk to him.
Narcissus sees her and says, "Who are you?"
"Are you," she replies.
"I asked you a question!" he yells.
"A question!" she answers.
"Is this a joke?" he asks.
"A joke," she answers.
He pushes past her. "I would die before I would have you near me," he mockingly yells over his shoulder.
Heart broken and
embarrassed, Echo goes to hide in a cave and in her mind she makes a prayer
to the gods.
Echo wasn't the first one to have her heart broken by Narcissus so the
gods granted her prayer.
Meanwhile, Narcissus, tired and thirsty from hunting, sat down by a pond to
drink. When he bent over to drink, he saw his reflection and fell in
love with it. He sat there looking upon his reflection forever, and his
body withered
away into the stem of a flower, a white beautiful flower which sits on the
bank of a pond and bends towards the water.
This myth tells how the flower named Narcissus was made -- there
really is a flower called a Narcissus. The word Echo also comes from this
story. Hope you liked it!
guy67