 There was once a beautiful nymph named Echo who loved her own voice. Echo spent her time in the forest and loved to be with Artemis, the goddess of the hunt. However, Echo had one problem: She was too talkative. One day, Hera was looking for her husband Zeus, who was with a group of nymphs that dwelled in the woods. Zeus loved consorting with beautiful nymphs and often visited them. When Hera was about to find Zeus, Echo appeared and took her aside to distract her with a long and entertaining story until Zeus could escape. When Hera discovered what Echo had done, she punished Echo. She said, “You will no longer be able to speak except to reply. You will always speak only the last words you hear, and you will never speak first.” Thus, from that time, Echo could only repeat the last words of what someone said to her. Later, Echo saw a handsome young man in the forest. His name was Narcissus, who was renowned for his beauty. She immediately fell in love with him and followed him around. She could not speak with him, so she secretly followed and watched him for days. One day, Narcissus got lost in the forest and shouted out, “Is there anyone here?” and Echo replied, “Here.” Narcissus saw nobody, so he shouted, “Where are you? Come at hand.” Echo repeated, “Come at hand.” Narcissus went toward the voice. Echo, unable to restrain herself, showed herself and rushed to embrace the lovely Narcissus. But Narcissus pulled away from her and said, “Get away. I would rather die than be with you.” Echo responded, “Be with you.” Narcissus turned and walked away. Poor Echo, grief-stricken, wandered through the forest alone. Eventually, she died of a broken heart, and her body transformed into a rock. The only thing that remained of her was her voice. She still cannotspeak first, but she is always ready to echo what someone else says. As for Narcissus, he never loved anyone but himself because he was so vain. He ignored the other nymphs just like he had ignored Echo. But one rejected nymph prayed that Narcissus would fall in love yet not have his love returned. The prayer was answered by the goddess Nemesis. While Narcissus was in a forest one day, he came upon a pool full of clear water. As he looked into it, he saw a beautiful face looking at him, and he immediately fell in love with his own reflection. He thought it was the image of a beautiful water nymph. He tried to kiss the image, but it always fled. Now Narcissus understood the desire and longing he had caused in others. He could not tear himself away from his own reflection, so he stared at it for many days. He neither ate nor drank, so he grew weak and thin. He died beside the pool. On the place where he died, there grew a lovely flower: the narcissus. 曾有一位美麗的女神叫艾可（Echo），她很迷戀自己的聲音， 而且閒暇時喜歡和森林裡的狩獵女神阿提米斯（Artemis）一同玩樂。但是，艾可有一個問題──她太喋喋不休了。 有一天，希拉（Hera）正在尋找她的丈夫宙斯，當時宙斯身旁正有一群山林女神相伴。宙斯喜歡和美麗的女神調情，所以時常拜訪她們。當希拉正要去找宙斯，艾可將她引到一旁，東拉西扯長篇有趣的故事使她分心，好讓宙斯順利脫逃。希拉得知後決定懲罰艾可，說道：「妳將永遠無法先開口說話，只能回答，而且只能說出你所聽到的最後一句話，永遠無法當第一個發聲的人。」從那時候開始，艾可只能重複別人話語的最後一個詞。 不久，艾可在森林裡看見一名俊秀的年輕男子，他名叫納西塞斯（Narcissus），以其翩翩風采聞名，艾可馬上墜入情網並追隨著他。她無法主動與他攀談，只好偷偷地跟著納西塞斯，觀察他的一舉一動。 有一天，納西塞斯在林間迷了路，他大喊：「有人在這兒嗎？」艾可回答：「這兒。」納西塞斯沒看到人，再度大喊：「你在哪兒？快過來我身邊。」，艾可重複他的話：「過來我身邊。」納西塞斯往聲音處走去，艾可按耐不住，現身衝過去擁抱俊美的納西塞斯。但納西塞斯將她推開並說：「滾開！我寧願死也不要和妳在一起！」艾可也回答：「在一起！」納西塞斯轉身離開，可憐的艾可極度地悲傷，獨自徘徊穿過森林，最後死於心碎，身體化為石頭，唯一剩下的就是她的聲音。她仍然無法當第一個開口說話的人，但她總是準備發出回聲，重複他人的話。 至於納西塞斯，除了自己，他從未愛過任何人，因為他太過自負。納西塞斯忽視其他的女神，就如同忽視艾可一般。一位被拒絕的女神祈求讓納西塞斯墜入愛河，但得不到對方的愛，這個祈禱得到女神涅墨西斯（Nemesis）的應許。 有一天，納西塞斯來到森林裡一座清澈的水池，當他頭一探向湖面，看到一個俊美靈秀的臉龐也正回望著他，霎時間，他愛上自己的水中倒影，以為湖中人影是位美麗的水神。但當他想親吻這個湖中人，影像就會不見。如今，納西塞斯終於了解他對別人勾起的想望。他無法離開自己的倒影，默默地凝望著它數天，茶不思飯不想，越來越憔悴，最後在池畔離開人世。在他死去的地方，長出了一株美麗的花朵：水仙花。 | 
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