ECHO & NARCISSUS PAGE ONE Zeus, the King of the Olympian gods, was notorious for his numerous love affairs and flings. He never missed an opportunity to mess around, especially when his wife Hera, Queen of the Olympians, was otherwise occupied.



There lived a young and beautiful mountain Nymph named Echo, who was a very pleasant girl, but she had a reputation for being a chatterbox. Nothing pleased Echo more than the sound of her own voice.



One day, while Echo was amusing and distracting Hera with her chatter, Zeus took advantage to frolic on earth with the other mountain Nymphs. He succeeded in ravishing some of them, until Hera finally became aware of his infidelity.



Hera was livid, to say the least, but she knew better than to challenge her husband, Ruler of Olympus and possessor of the fearsome thunderbolts. Rather that retaliating against Zeus, she took out her wrath on poor Echo!



You see, Hera assumed that because Echo distracted her during her husband's earthly encounters, she must of course be in cahoots with Zeus. It therefore followed that she must be punished.



Nothing could be further from the truth - Young Echo may have been way too talkative, but she was not doing Zeus any favors when her chatter kept Hera from noticing his absence. Still, Hera was convinced otherwise.



To punish the hapless girl, Hera took away her most valuable possession, her voice. Hera permitted Echo only to reply in foolish repetition of another's shouted words. Thus, all Echo could do was mimic the words of the speaker.



There lived in Thespia a vain youth named Narcissus, son of the blue Nymph called Leiriope. This Nymph had been seduced by the River god Cephisus, who had encirled Leirope with the windings of his streams and trapped her.



Narcissus was the product of their union.



The blue Nymph Leirope was concerned about the welfare of her new baby so she went to consult a famous oracle by the name of Teiresias regarding her son's future.



The seer told the Nymph that Narcissus "would live to be a ripe old age, as long as he never knew himself." A cryptic pronouncement, to be sure, but fitting, as we shall soon see.



Narcissus was incredibly beautiful as a child, and grew even more so as he matured. Both men and women equally desired him, but the vain youth rebuffed everybody.



By the age of sixteen he had left strewn a trail of broken hearts, rejected lovers all. Narcissus had absolutely no interest in falling in love with anyone and strenuously resisted all attempts at romance. Echo & Narcissus continues on page two! [home] [page one] [page two] [page three]