Narcissus and Echo

Narcissus was the son of the nymph Leiriope and the river Cephissus. Leriope consulted Teiresias, the prophet, and asked him if Narcissus would have a long life. Teiresias replied that he would so long as he did not know himself. Narcissus was admired by many girls and boys, but never returned their love. One, a nymph called Echo, fell hopelessly in love with Narcissus when she spied him hunting in the woods where she lived.

Echo suffered another affliction: her task had been to divert Hera's attention with her constant chatter while her friends pursued their love affairs with Zeus, and, when found out, Hera punished her for her talkativeness by taking away her ability to utter anything but the last words of other people's sentences. Thus, unable to express her feelings for Narcissus, she had wasted away with unrequited love until she was merely a voice.

One boy prayed to Nemesis, the goddess of retribution, to punish Narcissus for his arrogance. One day, Narcissus was hunting on the slopes of Mount Helicon when he came to a clear pool; he stooped to quench his thirst and immediately fell in love with the beautiful boy reflected in the calm water. However much he talked to or tried to embrace him, the boy would not respond, but Narcissus would not leave his love and faed away like Echo, dying of starvation.

The gold-centred, white-petalled flower that we call narcissus was all that remained when his friends discovered him by the pool.

From "An introduction to Greek Mythology" by David Bellingham (Grange Books, 1998)