Narcissus
The story of a young Greek boy who fell in love with his own reflection.
Narcissus was a beautiful looking boy. He had long, flowing, blond hair,
beautiful, bright, blue eyes and even, white teeth. Many young ladies
fell in love with him including the nymph(山林水泽的仙女), Echo.
Nymphs were lively spirits who lived near streams and lakes and
protected trees in the forest. Echo had upset the Queen of the Gods,
Hera. As a punishment Hera made Echo unable to speak except to repeat
the last three words of the person she was talking to.
Poor Echo fell in love with Narcissus but could never tell him how she
felt. Narcissus teased her and she ran away with tears pouring down her
face. Aphrodite(阿芙罗狄蒂), the goddess of love saw what happened and
decided to punish Narcissus. As he came to a pool of water Narcissus saw
his reflection and fell in love with the vision he saw...it was of
course his own reflection.
Poor Narcissus watched his own reflection, every time he tried to touch
the face of the vision he loved it broke up on the shimmering surface of
the water. Narcissus stopped eating, lost his beautiful looks and
pined(消瘦) for his love. Eventually he faded away and died.
Aphrodite took pity on him and made a flower grow in his place on the
bank of the lake. Narcissus flowers can be found to this day growing
wherever you can find water and trees.