Echo. In Greek mythology, Echo was an Oread who resided on Mount Cithaeron. Zeus loved consorting with beautiful nymphs and often visited them on Earth. Eventually, Zeus's wife, Hera, became suspicious, and came from Mt. Olympus in an attempt to catch Zeus with the nymphs. Echo, by trying to protect Zeus, endured Hera's wrath, and Hera made her only able to speak the last words spoken to her. So when Echo met Narcissus and fell in love with him, she was unable to tell him how she felt and was forced to watch him as he fell in love with himself. In Metamorphoses, the poet Ovid tells of Juno and the jealousy she felt over her husband Jupiter's many affairs. Though vigilant, whenever she was about to catch him, Echo distracted her with lengthy conversations. When at last Juno realized the truth, she cursed Echo. From that moment on, the once loquacious nymph could only repeat the most recently spoken words of another person. Sometime after being cursed, Echo spied a young man, Narcissus, while he was out hunting deer with his companions. She immediately fell in love with him and, infatuated, followed quietly. The more she looked at the young man, the more she longed for him. Though she wished with all her heart to call out to Narcissus, Juno's curse prevented her. During the hunt, Narcissus became separated from his companions and called out, is anyone there,' and heard the nymph repeat his words. Startled, Narcissus answered the voice, come here,' only to be told the same. When Narcissus saw that nobody had emerged from the glade, he concluded that the owner of the voice must be running away from him and called out again. Finally, he shouted, This way, we must come together. Taking this to be a reciprocation of her love, Echo concurred ecstatically, We must come together! In her delight, Echo rushed to Narcissus ready to throw her arms around her beloved. Narcissus, however, was appalled and, spurning her, exclaimed, Hands off! May I die before you enjoy my body.' All Echo could whisper in reply was, enjoy my body' and having done so she fled, scorned, humiliated, and shamed. Despite the harshness of his rejection, Echo's love for Narcissus only grew. When Narcissus died, wasting away before his own reflection, consumed by a love that could not be, Echo mourned over his body. When Narcissus, looking one last time into the pool uttered, Oh marvellous boy, I loved you in vain, farewell, Echo too chorused, Farewell. Eventually, Echo, too, began to waste away. Her beauty faded, her skin shrivelled, and her bones turned to stone. Today, all that remains of Echo is the sound of her voice. The tale of Daphnis and Chloe is a 2nd-century romance by Greek author Longus. At one point in the novel, Daphnis and Chloe are staring out at the boats gliding across the sea. Chloe, having never heard an echo before, is confused on hearing the fisherman's song repeated in a nearby valley. Daphnis promises to tell her the story of Echo in exchange for ten more kisses. Daphnis' rendition differs radically from Ovid's account. According to Daphnis, Echo was raised among the Nymphæ because her mother was a nymph. Her father, however, was merely a man and hence Echo was not herself a nymph but mortal. Echo spent her days dancing with the Nymphæ and singing with the Muses who taught her all manner of musical instruments. Pan then grew angry with her, envious of her musical virtuosity and covetous of her virginity, which she would yield neither to men nor gods. Pan drove the men of the fields mad, and, like wild animals, they tore Echo apart and scattered the still singing fragments of her body across the earth. Showing favour to the Nymphæ, Gaia hid the shreds of Echo within herself providing shelter for her music, and, at the Muses' command, Echo's body will still sing, imitating with perfect likeness the sound of any earthly thing. Daphnis recounts that Pan himself oft hears his very own pipes and, giving chase across the mountains, looks in vain for the secret student he can never find. Both the Homeric and Orphic Hymns to Pan reiterate Longus' tale of Pan chasing Echo's secret voice across the mountains. Codex 190 of Photius' Bibliotheca states that Pan's unrequited love for Echo was placed there by Aphrodite, angry at his verdict in a beauty contest. Nonnus' Dionysiaca contains a number of references to Echo. In Nonnus' account, though Pan frequently chased Echo, he never won her affection. Book VI also makes reference to Echo in the context of the Great Deluge. Nonnus states that the waters rose so far that even high on the hills Echo was forced to swim. Having escaped the advances of Pan, she feared now the lust of Poseidon.