Join us at the campfire for tales from around the world, told by storytellers of all backgrounds and creeds. From the heros and heroines of old, let us relearn and rediscover the wisdom of our ancestors. Shhh..the story begins..

Echo was a nymph who lived on Mount Helion, a range of mountains in Boeotia in central Greece. This was an area also much favored by the Muses, who raised and trained the young nymphs who resided there. Thus, Echo was well prepared for the service of Hera, Queen of the Heavens, and became a member of the goddess's retinue.

Despite her duty to Hera, Echo was always sympathetic to Zeus, King of the Heavens and Hera's husband, in his amorous pursuits, even though she was never herself the object of his affection. Instead, the nymph assisted him in his philandering by distracting Hera's attention on many such occasions.

Whenever Zeus wished to engage in a flirtation or seduction, he would inform Echo, and she would then involve Hera in light-hearted conversation, diverting her so that she failed to maintain her usual sharp eye on her wayward husband. This ruse proved to be highly successful, since Hera adored gossip. Echo would chatter away charmingly, and Zeus was free to indulge himself in the company of attractive nymphs or maidens.

Eventually, however, Hera saw through the trick and became extremely angry. To punish Echo, the goddess afflicted her with the inability to begin a conversation or introduce any new topic of discussion. For eternity, Echo was limited to repeating the very same words that someone had addressed to her. Embarrassed, she fled to the most desolate woodlands and valleys of Mount Helion, but she continued to delight in talking. She would stalk everyone who happened to find their way into her wilderness and would then repeat, mournfully, anything they might say.

In the meantime, a young man named Narcissus was courting his own doom...in this case through excessive pride. Narcissus was the son of the nymph Lirope and Cephissus, the River God. While he was only a baby, his mother had sought foreknowledge of her son's future by visiting the infallible seer Tiresias. Although Tiresias was to become the most famous seer in Greece, when Lirope consulted him, he had only recently received the gift of prophesy and had not yet established his reputation. In reply to Lirope's query as to whether Narcissus would live a long life, Tiresias answered: "Yes, if he never knows himself." At the time, this seemed a senseless response but years later, when Narcissus met his fate, people would remember the words of the seer and appreciate his powers to foretell the future.

Narcissus grew to be both ravishingly handsome and outrageously arrogant. Many people, both men and women, fell in love with him, but he despised them all and rejected their advances with cruel disdain. Taking delight in his own company, he ranged the woodlands of Mount Helion totally indifferent to the pain and grief of his suitors. Finally, driven to distraction, one of his spurned lovers asked the gods that Narcissus should suffer the same agony that they did: unrequited love.

This prayer came to the attention of Nemesis, the Goddess of Vengeance and Retribution. She followed Narcissus and, as he passed a still pool of water, afflicted him with a fierce thirst. When he bent over the water to drink, he saw for the first time his own reflection in the calm surface, as though in a mirror. Now, as Tiresias had prophesied, Narcissus knew himself...although he failed to understand that it was his own reflection, believing that he was at last looking at someone worthy of his love. From that moment on, Narcissus remained hopelessly infatuated with his own image. When he bent toward it, it seemed to respond and move eagerly toward him, but just as he was about to kiss the adorable face, the image would disintegrate and he would have to wait until the water had stilled for his beloved to return.

Echo saw Narcissus by the pool and immediately fell in love with the handsome youth as he murmured utterings of passion and devotion to his own reflection. Hampered by her curious affliction, Echo attempted to seduce him by repeating his own last words, believing them to be directed at her since she could see that he was alone. At first Narcissus was amused and charmed to hear his endearments repeated by another voice but gradually, as he became more absorbed in his contemplation of himself, he began to ignore her. Echo, however, was so besotted by him that her unrequited love eventually wore her out. Her body faded away, and only her voice remained, haunting wild, rocky places, eternally echoing every sound that she heard.

The only thing Narcissus cared about was the unresponsive but devastating individual who resided in the pool...the person he could see, so near yet so unattainable. He lay, rooted to the spot bedside the water, languishing for love of the image within it, until he too faded. Finally, the gods took pity on the youth, and he was transformed into the narcissus, blooming early in the Spring, whose flowers always hang downward...always reaching toward their reflection mirrored in the surface of the water.