ing in the sunlight through the trees. He at once turned to it, for
he was hot and thirsty.
He stooped down to bathe his burning forehead,
and to cool his
dry hot lips. But as he bent over the water, he saw his own face in it,
as in a glass. He thought it must be some lovely waterfairy, that
lived within the fountain, and as he looked he forgot to drink. The
bright eyes, the curly hair, the round cheeks, and the red lips were
beautiful to him; and he fell in love
with that image of himself, but
knew not that it was his own image. It smiled when he smiled, and
as he spoke, the lips of the face moved as though speaking too,
though no sound came from them. “I love you with all my heart,”
said the lad. The image smiled and held out its arms, but still was
dumb. The lad spoke to it again and again,
and getting no answer,
he at last began to cry. The tears fell upon the water, and ruffled it,
so that the face looked wrinkled. Thinking it was going away, he
said: “Only stay, beautiful being, and let me look at you, even if I
may not touch you.” He forgot everything but that lovely face. Day
after day,
night after night, he stayed there, till he grew thin and
pale, and at last died. Just at the water’s edge, where the lad had
died, there grew one strange little flower, all alone. “He has been
changed into a flower,” his friends said. “Let
us call it after our dead
friend.” So they named the flower Narcissus in memory of him and
it is called Narcissus to this very day.