The Story of Narcissus and Echo
Ever wonder where the term “narcissism” came from? Here’s the story, as told in Greek mythology.
Echo was a nymph under a curse because she had angered the Goddess-Queen, Hera. Hera was looking for her husband, the God-King Zeus, who was amusing himself with some nymphs in the forest. By detaining Hera in conversation so that the nymphs were able to get away, Echo defeated Hera’s attempt to catch her husband in wrongdoing. Cheated by Echo’s insistence on having the last word, Hera cursed Echo: Echo would never again be able to initiate a conversation; she could only reply when someone spoke to her, and her reply was limited to repeating what the person said.
Some time later, Echo fell in love with a very handsome young man named Narcissus. But Echo could not tell him of her love for him. Nevertheless, she waited until one day when Narcissus finally spoke to her, and she contrived to repeat his words in such a way as to express her love for him.
But Narcissus cruelly rejected the love of Echo, saying that he would rather die than marry her Echo retreated to the mountain caves, where she eventually wasted away. Her prayer for vengeance was simply that Narcissus should one day know the pain of unrequited love that he had inflicted upon her — and on many other young women. Hera heard Echo’s request and granted it. When Narcissus came to a pool to get a drink of water, he saw his reflection and thought it was a water-nymph. When he tried to grab it, it disappeared. He was devastated and stayed by the waters, pining after his own reflection and begging it to stay with him, until he died. When Echo and her friends came to bury Narcissus’s body, they could not find it. Instead, at the place where Narcissus had died was growing a beautiful flower, with white petals surrounding a purple center.