Long ago a beautiful boy named Narcissus was born. An oracle told his mother that he could live forever, but only if he never saw his reflection.

Echo, a nymph, used to be the goddess Juno's servant. Echo liked to gossip, and often told lies about the gods. One day, Juno became angry and sent Echo away to live in the forest, saying, "As punishment for your lies, from this day forward you will only be able to repeat what others have spoken."

One day Echo saw Narcissus. She fell in love with him at first sight. Echo quietly began to follow him. How she longed to be able to say, "I love you." She started to cry.

Narcissus turned. "Is someone here?"

"Here," Echo whispered.

Narcissus saw no one. "Come here," he cried.

"Come here," Echo answered.

Now the young man was angry. "Who are you? What do you want?"

とㄡwｗＷ。fAiＲy－tＡｌＥ．InｆＯìㄌ♀ュ』αた

The nymph rushed from her hiding place and tried to kiss him, but Narcissus pushed her away. "No! Go away! I will die before I love you!"

"I love you!" she answered, her heart broken.

Narcissus ran away. He reached a stream. When he leaned over to take a drink, he saw his beautiful face reflected in the water. He had never seen his reflection before, so he thought that his reflection must be someone who lived in the stream. He fell in love with this beautiful person.

He leaned over to kiss the person in the stream, but when he did, the person vanished.

"Come back," Narcissus cried, but every time he tried to kiss his love, the reflection disappeared. Narcissus could not bear to leave his love, and so he began to waste away. Finally, he died.

Echo, too, wasted away, leaving behind only her voice. It is Echo's voice that sometimes answers us in the mountains.

Narcissus' body disappeared, and in its place beside the stream grew some beautiful flowers with silvery-green leaves and golden petals. These flowers have been known ever since as narcissus.