Echo and Narcissus
"You shall forfeit the use of that tongue with which you have cheated me, except for that one purpose you are so fond of-- reply. You shall still have the last word, but no power to speak first."
Echo gasped and brought her hands up and around her neck. A burning sensation engulfed her lungs and climbed into her mouth. She wanted to scream from the pain, but no sound would come from her. She fell to the ground and looked up with mercy in her eyes at the goddess that stood before her. Instead, Hera turned away.
Since that time, Echo secluded herself from the others. The curse had suppressed her voice, and she was unable to speak, to laugh, to sing, even to cry. Echo could only express the emotions of others but never her own.
One day, while walking through her part of the woods, Echo spied upon a handsome youth. Unbeknownst to her, his name was Narcissus. A human! Unlike the others, would he take her friendship?
Echo was gazing in admiration, camouflaged behind a tree, when he called out, "Is anyone here?"
Excited at her chance to speak, the girl answered, "Here!" but did not know whether or not to show herself just yet.
Narcissus, seeing no one, asked, "Where? Let me see you?"
Echo, elated that he wished to see her, revealed herself from her hiding and cried, "Let me see you!"
The boy glanced at Echo. Seeing it was just a nymph and not one of the companions he was hunting with, he stepped back in hesitance. "Who are you? I do not know you."
"You," said Echo dreamily, walking up to him.
"Leave me alone." Narcissus pushed the girl away in revolt.
Echo was deeply hurt. "Alone?" she repeated and slowly stepped forward, hoping he would understand that she was offering him her friendship.
"Stay away! Do not come near me!"
"Come near me." Echo tried to embrace him.
Narcissus pushed her away; he was becoming vexed. "Hands off! I rather die than let you have me!"
No, not again, not like the others. We have only just met. "Have me!" Echo pleaded. If only he knew her dilemma.
Narcissus smirked. "You are just like all the other silly maidens who have fallen in love with me."
No, I am not like them. "Love with me," she beckoned, arms extended.
The youth turned away, no longer bothering to mind the nymph. Sighing, he said to himself, "Why cannot there be someone as beautiful to love as me?"
"Me!" cried Echo but all was in vain as the boy went on his way, leaving the desperate nymph feeling like a fool.
Meanwhile, Nemesis, the goddess of revenge, had seen what had happened, and upon hearing what Narcissus had said, granted his request. "May he feel what it was to love and to meet no return of affection."
Echo would not give up so easily and followed Narcissus' trail until he arrived at a shaded pool to rest from his fatigues. As the boy bent down into the water to take a drink, he saw what he thought was a beautiful nymph, as beautiful as he was handsome, and fell in love with it. The youth was so entranced that he forgot of his thirst and stared at the supposed spirit.
"What is your name, beautiful one?" he asked curiously.
Echo watched in horror from a bush. What was the meaning of this?
The boy smiled in acknowledgement when it did not answer back. "Do not fear. We are alone. Surely you are not bashful?" He then leaned his head in to kiss it.
There is nothing there! Who is he talking to? Is it his reflection? How can that be? Echo wanted to run out there and tell him that his lover is nothing but his own image, but she dared not interrupt him again. This was all too much to bear!
Narcissus tilted his head and looked into the water. "You seem so familiar somehow. It is as if I have known you all my life." He reached in to caress its face only to have the water ripple and the image fade.
"Why do you shun from me?" asked the youth confused. "It is not my face that repels you? The nymphs all love me as you look upon me now. When I stretch forth my arm, you do the same. When I smile, you smile alike as when I speak." The boy, marveled by the assumed beauty, dipped his arm in the pool to embrace it; it fled upon his touch again but returned as always and renewed its fascination.
After the fourth time of trying to embrace his beloved, the youth reached out one last time and cried, "Please stay! Do not leave!" At the rejection, his tears fell into the pool disturbing the image thus the appearance of it retreating. "I entreat you! I beg for your company! Let me at least gaze upon you if I may not touch you!
Narcissus continued staring into the water sadly. "Please, I love only you." As usual, it only stared back without reply, and the boy was content as long as it did not take leave again.
After some time, the boy vowed, "Since I cannot bring you out, I will wait for you. I will never leave your side until you come out." With that, he rested his head beside the waters, eyes never parting from the image.
Echo could not take it anymore and cried out, "Come out!" to Narcissus hoping it would lead him away from the mesmerizing spring. "Come out!" she screamed. "Come out!" It was all deaf to youth.
Narcissus stayed by the spring without food or water, for he still dared not take a drink, fearing it would frighten the beautiful image away. Echo ached to see him like this; it was tearing her apart. Nothing she did was of use. It was as if her presence did not exist around him. Had she too fallen for this boy already, like all the others he had mentioned? Was this why she would not leave him here alone?
Days and nights went by; Rain and sunshine came by. And so, "Farewell" was his last word to his beloved in the pool as it was also for Echo who said the same to Narcissus. There, the youth died from love and was turned into the flower narcissus, which would always face the water instead of the sun. Echo died of the same fate and the gods preserved her voice forever until this day.