Echo and Narcissus

So in the beginning of this story, a mother asks Tiresias, a prophet, if her son will live to an old age, and he/she (Tiresias walked up on 2 snakes getting down, so they turned him into a girl) told her "Yes, if he never knows himself," whatever that's supposed to mean. Then we skip to when the son, Narcissus, is now 16 years old, and he is out hunting, when a wood nymph, Echo, sees him and falls instantly in love.

The story then goes into a side story about Echo to introduce her. Echo is a hot, young mountain spirit, but the catch is that she talks too much. One day, Hera went looking for Zeus, afraid he was "frolicking" with the nymphs, because Zeus does quit a lot of frolicking. Echo is there to stall Hera if she shows so Zeus can sneak away, and this happens. Hera catches on and punishes Echo by stealing her voice and only allowing her to repeat what is spoken to her.

 Now back to the real story, Echo falls madly in love with Narcissus when she first sees him, and since she is unable to initiate conversation with him she resorts to stalking him through the mountain as he hunts. Narcissus gets separated from his hunting buddies and calls out to them, so Echo ceases this opportunity to gain his attention and repeats his call, staying hidden in the forest. After a weird conversation that goes nowhere, Narcissus calls out, "Let's get together." Echo repeats his words and jumps out of hiding ready to get down with him right there, but Narcissus is completely weirded out and tells her to get away from him, saying he'd rather die than be with her. Kinda harsh, but I mean, she was stalking him. She goes through a deep depression, and instead of eating her feelings away like a lot of girls do today, she resorted to hiding in a cave. Her love for him never fades, and her obsession for Narcissus consumes her as her skin rotted away and her bones turned to stone. She became nothing but a voice, going around repeating everything she hears, and this is the invention of the echo.

Narcissus continued hunting and traveling the mountains, his charm enchanting more than just Echo, both women and men were turned down just as Echo was, but he probably didn't tell them he'd rather be dead than be with them. One of the rejected prays to Nemesis who responds in a manor full of vengeance.

One day when Narcissus was tired and thirsty from hunting, he stops at a pool surrounded by trees. As he goes to take a drink, he sees his own reflection and falls in love with himself. Nemesis thought that if he is too proud to lave anybody else, he might as well love himself. And he did. So much that he became obsessed with himself, attempting to kiss and grab his own reflection in the water. Once he realizes he cant reach the figure in the water and that it is himself, his obsession overtook him as he chose to lay on the grass and die, starving to death just like Echo. His last words were "Farewell, dear boy. Beloved in vain", which Echo, who, to our surprise, has been watching him die the whole time repeat him. Many people were saddened by Narcissus's death, and when they went to find his body to burn it on a pyre in memory of him, but where his body lay was only a flower. The Narcissus Flower, known today as the daffodil.

Remember what Tiresias said at the beginning? He said Narcissus would live to an old age as long as he "never knows himself."

One of the first people I think of when I hear the word narcissist is Simon Cowell. He has a huge head, physically and figuratively. But, it's not because he has lots of money and is world famous and can do basically whatever he wants. It's because of his British accent. Everyone knows British accents are irresistible, and even Simon can't control his emotions for his own voice. The same thing goes for Alec Baldwin. He knows his voice has a sort of ironic/sarcastic tone, and people love hearing it, including himself. Both men have a personality that matches their voice. They are sound proud because they are proud, proud of being themselves, maybe just a little bit too proud for my taste though.