Narcissus and Echo
Echo was a beautiful wood nymph who was a favourite of the moon goddess- Artemis (twin of Apollo). Her fatal flaw was that she was very fond of talking. One day she met Hera, the wife of Zeus, who was frustrated with Echo's talking and therefore cursed her to always have the last word. After that, Echo was doomed to walk the earth speaking only the last word of another being.
Whilst walking, Echo saw a very handsome young shepherd called Narcissus, fell in love him and followed him around. Narcissus was very vain because he was aware about how attractive he was and how much girls loved him but he loved no one but himself. To begin with, Narcissus didn't mind that Echo was following him but soon it became annoying. One day, Narcissus looked into a stream and was enchanted with what looked back at him. A beautiful young man. Meanwhile Echo was desperate, she wanted to tell the youth that she loved him but she couldn't.
"Come to me!" begged the vain man one day when he was looking at his reflection,
"Come to me!" echoed Echo,
"Who's there?" demanded Narcissus,
"Who's there?" replied Echo,
"Stop that!" shouted the shepherd,
"Stop that!" echoed the wood nymph,
"Love me?" said Narcissus returning to the water,
"Love me?" implored Echo.
Slowly, over time, Narcissus stayed there gazing dreamily into the water. Eventually he stopped eating, and then he stopped drinking. Finally he wilted and became that beautiful flower you see at the river side. Distressed, Echo wasted away until there was only her voice, repeating people's last sounds. Her voice is now carried on the wind.
Comments
Post a Comment