The Echo & Narcissus Group
One of the most famous of the nymphs was Echo. Zeus had many extramarital affairs and gave Echo the job of distracting his wife Hera by keeping her busy listening to Echo's idle chatter while Zeus was carrying on. Hera eventually discovered Echo's little ruse and punished Echo by declaring that she would never speak again except to repeat the sounds that she heard. Sometime later Echo saw the beautiful youth Narcissus and fell deeply in love with him, but she could not speak to him unless she was spoken to. When they finally met, Narcissus rejected her quite insensitively and nastily. Echo hid her shame in the woods and in the caves, wasting away until nothing was left, except her voice. Narcissus was punished for scorning Echo by the goddess Nemesis who decided he should know what it feels like to love someone deeply and not have that love returned. When Narcissus saw his own reflection in a clear pool, he became so enamored of it, that he could not leave it. He pined away and eventually became a flower which bears his name.