Echo

The mountain nymph Echo is also indelibly tied to Narcissus in various Greek mythologies. Probably the most popular version of the story is handed down to us by Ovid, the ancient Roman/Latin author, in Book III of his “Metamorphoses”. In the tale of “Narcissus and Echo”, the mountain-dwelling nymph Echo spies the beautiful youth, Narcissus, in the woods hunting for deer. She immediately falls in love with him. However, every youth and girl in the land was also in love with Narcissus, but he had a “haughty heart” and spurned all his pursuers. That day he heard a sound in the woods and called out “Anyone here?” to which Echo replied “Here!” He said again, “Come this way!” and Echo repeated “This way!” Finally Narcissus exclaims “Join me here!”. Echo’s heart leapt with joy as she repeated the young man’s words and emerged from the woods to be with him. Alarmed at the sight of Echo, Narcissus screams “I’ll die before I yield to you!” (“I yield to you!” says Echo). The rejected nymph is left to pine away in the woods, her former self being reduced down only to her echoing sounds. Having witnessed the many cruel rejections handed down by the youthful boy, the god Nemesis decides to take revenge (“So may he love – and never win his love!”). Eventually Narcissus comes upon a perfectly still pond and bends down to “slake his thirst”. He sees his own beautiful face in the water’s reflection and instantly falls in love: “Not knowing what he sees, he adores the sight; / That false face fools and fuels his delight.” Narcissus eventually succumbs to death as he pines away at the water’s edge, refusing to leave his own lovely image. His final word is “Farewell!”; to which the dependable Echo repeats “Farewell!” The once beautiful boy withers away to nothing except the narcissus flower which sprung up in his place “White petals clustered round a cup of gold!”