Gree Myths: Echo and Narcissus

"It's Zeus! It's Zeus," rang out from the nymphs, who clustered to the entrance of their clearing, awaiting his arrival. They'd heard the clouds rumble as he shot through them and knew he was on his way.

"Echo, you must stand watch. If anyone tries to enter once he arrives you must delay them."

"Why must I? Surely I can join in this time," Echo questioned.

"This is your turn for the watch now do as you are bid." The other nymphs often resented Echo her bravado and her keen ability to say what she thought. Other times, they wished she would simply be still.

Just as Echo opened her mouth to reply, Zeus arrived. He was most definitely the finest of all the Gods. It came as no surprise he was their leader. His body lean and muscled and his hair in tight golden curls, he captured the breath of even the sauciest nymph.

"Come to me nymphs. Pleasure me!" Of course the nymphs flocked to him including the brassy Echo.

"Let us bathe your feet and lave you with our kisses, Zeus. Let us touch and seduce you."

"Time is of the essence the Queen of the Gods will come to find me. Let us frolic and make the most of our time!" With that, he trod off deeper into the clearing.

Hurrying so as not to miss the fun, the nymphs scattered after him. Leaving Echo to guard against Hera's discovery. She listened with displeasure at the giggles and moans of the nymphs and their God, wishing she cold brush his golden curls or swallow his essence. It wasn't right that she was here; it couldn't really be her turn to guard.

The woods, so inviting, lush, and green. She watched them, sensing the changes in the breeze the way the trees would. She became so in tune with her surroundings, she had become translucent. She only came out of her trance when she heard a soft voice calling, "Zeus? I know you are here. Come out and face me."

"Oh no," Echo thought, once again regaining her visible form, "It's Hera! What am I to do?" She thought quickly and decided, she would seduce the queen. Fading into the woods she followed the sound of the Queen's voice until she came upon her, heading directly for the clearing.

Echo, now invisible, stroked a hand across Hera's breasts. Hera halted, "Who's there? I can feel your hands. ." Echo cut her off by pressing her face into the cloth that barely covered the Queen's center. Breathing out warmly, she was rewarded with a small moan from the Goddess Over All.

"It's working," thought Echo, "and I should enjoy myself also." She felt Hera's hands touching her hair and Echo moaned into the cloth.

"Make yourself known to me," Hera commanded, "Echo, not one to disobey the Gods, became visible and kissed her Queen on the lips.

"Please my, lady. Let me pleasure you. Let me touch and tantalize your skin and body with my arts? I beg you. Your skin is so soft and you hair smells so sweet. Let me shower your person with my attentions?" Echo started out pleading to pause the Great Lady, but ended wanting more than anything to fulfill her promises. She laid her hands on either side of Hera's face and pulled her close for a kiss, but Hera stopped her.

"Nymph, what is your name?"

"Echo, my lady."

"Tell me, gentle one, is Zeus in these woods?"

"I do not know, beloved one, I know only that I wish to please you. Please allow me to show my worship for you. Let me lay you back on soft clover and feed you wine. Let me touch your soft scented skin with lips like rose petals?"

"Echo, you seduce me with your praise. Let us try this seduction."

Rather than responding, Echo gathered up the garments of the queen and ceremoniously removed them. Hera was indeed lovely to behold. Echo found herself gasping at her beauty. Surely she was lovelier than Aphrodite.

She shone. Light seemed to wash off her golden skin like rays off the sun. In her nakedness, her eyes took on a deepened hue of green. Reaching up, Echo loosened Hera's braids and let her deep brown hair fall around her shoulders. Gently yet with a sense of urgency the nymph took the queen's hand and led her to a patch of fresh clover.

She lay Hera back and began kissing her boldly. Lightly she traced the edge of Hera's lips, suckling their fullness into her mouth and suffusing them with her warmth. Her hands ran the length of the goddess's torso, stroking and petting. Reaching Hera's breasts, Echo broke the kiss and mouth found hands delight.

She laved the nipples with tender kisses and nipping bites. Watching and feeling them peak from her moist warm kisses. Hera began panting, a light sheen of sweat rising on her golden skin. Her hands ran through Echo's red tresses, grasping and releasing with the waves of pleasure being given by the adept nymph.

"It's incredible," Echo thought, "the other nymphs shall have their god, but who has had the goddess?

Out loud, Echo murmured her feelings of passion and admiration for the panting goddess lying beneath her lithe body. "You are magnificent. Your skin tastes of honey."

As her kisses fell lower and lower on Hera's body the Queen's moans became louder and more expectant. Echo, patiently, kissed from the ridge of Hera's hipbone to the beginnings of her down. She paused and looked upon the goddess, feeling herself warm at her look of lustful impatience. Then, she followed slowly with the other side. Then gently her tongue ran the length of the queen's warm mons. She tasted the delicious moisture, and delved deeper, pulling the goddess's legs further over her shoulders and flicking her tongue unmercifully over her tenderest point.

Hera cried out in her passion and her need for release, "Yes,oh yes, please, please don't , don't stop." Her hands were pressing Echo's face harder against her center and she writhed against the forest floor, her hips thrusting against the nymph's face.

At the worst possible time, "Three at once, surely you know I can pleasure more than three." Rang out through the woods. Hera's jerked her head up her whole body quivering. Echo panicked. "What now?"

"Is something wrong, my lady," she questioned timidly.

"I heard Zeus. Don't lie to me and say you didn't also. Did you know? Were you seducing me to-"

"No, my lady, I would never! You are so lovely and when I saw you pass I knew I must have you. No one in these woods compares to your grace and beauty. You are the sun of my day."

"Nymph, I shall be very upset with you if I find-" "My lady, I swear to you I had-"

"Echo," The queen stood, gathered, and replaced her clothing, "You are the nymph the others talk about. The one who interrupts and who-"

"No, Hera, I swear, I did not know. I just became enraptured by your radiance." Echo plead to deaf ears.

Hera stood to her full height and raised one hand, "Echo, nymph of the wood, you shall forever be stolen of the ability to begin a conversation. You shall have what you always strove to achieve, the last word. Your voice shall be solely heard repeating the last thing another says to you for eternity.

Echo felt a cold flash of fear run through her. Could it be true, could she never speak to someone again? She tried to beg, to no avail. No words came. Hera left her then, striding towards the clearing where her husband entertained himself with the nymphs. How would Echo warn them now?

She followed silently as Hera made her way to the clearing and she observed her ripping the nymphs away from Zeus. She heard their cries and heard herself return them. Bleakly she realized her life was over.

She turned from her home and tried to lose herself within the woods.

-------------------------------------------------

Night had fallen in the forest. Echo had walked many miles and the forest had changed. The creatures here did not know her and the nymphs feared her silence. The lush verdant greens of her home had slowly faded to darker shades and the ground was not as soft. She longed for her home but knew she was not meant to return.

Exhausted though still walking, she found herself approaching a stream. Its musical laugh made her halt but thirst beckoned her onward. She knelt to drink and found herself face to face with her reflection. Her once cheerful radiance had faded and she was left looking bereft. For the first time, Echo cried.

"Who's there?" A deep warm voice called out. " I hear you but I can not see you."

Searching for this voice, Echo stood, turned, and fell instantly in love. He was by far the most enchanting man she had laid eyes on. "I am here-" She started to say but then remembered that she couldn't speak. She rushed to him and became visible.

He started at her sudden appearance and cried out, "Who- who are you?"

"Who are you?" She repeated, wishing she could respond.

"I am Narcissus."

"Narcissus." What a lovely name. She touched his questioning face with her hand and drew herself up on pointed toes to lay a small kiss upon his lips. Pulling away, she gestured to her mouth and throat trying to tell him she couldn't speak. He seemed confused and put off. Ever her persistent self, Echo once again rose up on her toes and kissed the young man. This time she deepened the kiss, trying desperately to show him her passion and her love.

When she felt him return her kiss she became elated. His strong hands wove into her hair and he pressed her up against an oak, forcing her lips apart and thrusting his tongue into her waiting mouth. She could feel every angle of his hard, solid body against her tingling flesh. Wantonly she ran her hands up his back and into his black curls. She loved how short his hair was and she enjoyed the feel of his muscular neck.

His mouth abruptly left hers and traveled along the line of her neck to her shoulders and ultimately her breasts. She gasped at the cool air when he tore the dress from her body so that her breasts were exposed to the air and his hot wet mouth. "Oh, Narcissus, do you know how I love you? How I wish to please you? Do you know how I wish to feel your name on my tongue and how I long to seduce you with my voice," she thought, her agony increased by the fire he was creating in her.

From one breast to the other his mouth went. His tongue traced the areola and then flicked roughly across her nipple. Her heart raced in her chest when finally he kissed her again. She pressed herself to him, loving the feel of his body against hers, loving the passion that pushed away her loneliness and fear. She fed all her hunger and pain into the kiss, deepening it until she felt she had lost herself completely to the man holding her.

"You are so tempting, nymph of the woods. Let me love you now."

"Love you now," Echo repeated, lightheaded and dizzy from the euphoria of his kiss.

He led her to a patch of soft grass near the stream and sat her down and then sat near her. Untying her garment slowly, he laid her back and thrust the fabric completely aside and gazed upon her body in the dappled sunlight of the wood. "You are lovely," he whispered.

"Lovely" he stood and began to remove his belt, followed by his tunic. His body was golden on the arms and legs but the skin hidden by the tunic was pale in contrast. His dark chest hair tantalized her and she found herself longing to curl it around her fingers. As he knelt to unwrap the laces of his sandals from his calves, her eyes were drawn to his powerful manhood.

None she had seen could compare, not even Zeus's. It was lovely and long curving slightly inward to his stomach. She longed to taste it and feel the soft skin part over the swollen tip.

He stood and walked the few paces to her side then knelt. Reaching out his hand he guided her head to his center and pressed himself to her lips. Lightly she ran her tongue out over the tip of his shaft. His heat was penetrating and she felt it warm her. Not losing even a moment, she wrapped her graceful lips around his stem and drew deeply upon his whole length. It was heaven. He groaned aloud his pleasure and because she enjoyed him immensely, she groaned also.

She felt him swell in her mouth and knew she was soon to be rewarded with his essence. She drew him in deeper, wanting him to release it to her, to allow her to worship him in this way. It was not to be. He let her enjoy his manhood until just before his release and pulled it from her, spraying her face in his ecstasy.

Shocked and not a little surprised, Echo regained her composure just as he flung her back once again and started pleasuring her as she had pleasured Hera. His warm mouth locked over her mons and she felt his tongue sweep away the moisture of her cleft in deft swipes. He thrust his tongue into her being and she longed to cry out her agonizing happiness. She felt herself being carried to the edge and just as she was going to crash over, he stopped and thrust his rod into her. His girth stretched her depths in ways she had never experienced.

He was very hard and she felt her body spasm around him it as he sank his member over and over again to her core. Her inability to cry out her pleasure at being the chosen of her love made her passion even greater and she soon began crying tears of joy while her body danced with a rippling climax.

Not very long after he started, Narcissus enjoyed his second release and fell panting to the ground beside her. Immediately she rolled over on her side and began kissing his arms, chest, and shoulders.

"Leave me, nymph, He bellowed, "I have had my pleasure. Now go," With that, he shoved her away from him. "Go on with your seducing of other travelers and huntsmen."

"Huntsman" He thought she was seducing him because she was a nymph. She loved him. Had loved him from the moment she turned and saw him. He had used her! With everything in her heart she wished him pain. She cried out to Artemis with her mind for vengeance, that he should feel what it was to love someone incapable of loving in return. Kneeling over him, she slapped him leaving a bright red mark. Then she stood, wrapped her garment around herself, and rushed into the woods. She hurt more than she ever had before. -------------------------------------------------

Rising to his knees Narcissus watched the strange girl flee into the shelter of the woods. "What an odd little nymph," he thought to himself as he gathered his clothing. " I wonder what is wrong with her that she cries after laying with me?"

As he dressed, he thought over his reason for being in the forest. He had come to find release with one of the nymphs but also to pray in the Temple of the Gods. He longed to find someone worthy of his affection and needed to find which deeds would draw Aphrodite's notice and thereby her blessing. She of all the Goddesses would know of one worthy of him.

The nymphs and spirits of the forest flocked to him in droves when he came near and the women in the towns were only slightly less ardent in their pursuit. He knew he was a man of worth and only a very special person deserved him. A person provided to him by the Gods.

Echo had long been a favorite of Artemis, often accompanying her on her hunts. When Artemis heard one of her favorites plea for vengeance she rushed to grant her wish. She cast her powers upon an unsuspecting Narcissus and by her hand he was guided to a sacred pool deep within the forest. Shepherd's flocks or fallen leaves had never desecrated this pool, and it had also been cursed by Artemis's own hand.

Narcissus felt as if he were awakening from a sleepless dream. He found himself in a part of the forest he had never been before. Not knowing how he had gotten there, he panicked momentarily, He turned and heard the whispers of the nymphs and spirits of the wood chittering and laughing his plight. "Come out," he cried, only to hear a fading voice call "Come Out" in return.

The forest nymphs were fast enamored of the youth. They played games of daring where one would race forward to touch him and then another. All the while he remained dazed, unsure of how he had come to be in this strange glade. A feeling of uncertainty, one he had never known in his short life, descended upon him. He had to get home. He would follow the stream he heard rippling nearby. Surely it would lead him out of this mountain wood and back to familiar territory.

He followed the sound of the water and was saddened to discover a small pond and not a brook leading to home. He had just heard the merry making of the water spirits. Disheartened he sat down on a moss-covered rock near the edge of the pool. He was thirsty from his unremembered walk but as he leaned over to drink he gasped, "Who is this," he pondered. "Surely this is the love meant for me, given me by Aphrodite herself! That is why I have been lead to this secluded place."

Passion filled him for this youth gazing back at him. He leaned down to press his lips to his newfound love and was deeply hurt when the boy vanished. "Come back," he cried. "Please if I can not touch or kiss you, let me gaze upon your face. I will love you from this distance if that is what pleases you.", Narcissus found his passions welling deep within his loins. His manhood had grown hard as he spent hour upon hour gazing upon the perfection before him.

"May I show you my love," he asked his beloved. " I will show you how my passion has filled me, then perhaps you will allow my touch?" He once again unfastened his belt and pulled his tunic over his head. He saw in the water that the youth had done the same and was also grown swollen with longing. "We shall be together in this, my truest love." With that he wrapped his hand around his manhood and stroked it up and down, over and over, groaning at the imagined pleasures he was receiving from the youth in the pond. Watching the boy only made his desire grow and soon he was spurting his pleasure into the pool.

When he regained his senses he looked into the eyes of his love and saw contentment and satisfaction. "I shall stay forever with you," he promised.

Many nymphs tried to seduce him away from the pool, not understanding his infatuation. Water spirits dived and splashed but only caused him pain at the assumed abandonment of his lover within the ripples of the pond. He was smitten and the forest creatures couldn't pull him away.

Over many months his beauty faded but still he loved the lad in the water. His lovely black curls grew long and snarled and his golden skin lost its healthy glow but he observed no hunger or thirst while in the company of his heart's desire, a love to last all time.

One morning he awoke and felt he was dying. "Goodbye, my love. For the time I have had with you, I have known only peace." And with that his body faded away and in its place grew a flower, rare in its beauty.

Echo heard his last farewell and rushed to the place he had lain for so long alas, it was too late, for he had already gone. She sat on the moss-covered rock that had been his home and wept for the love she had lost and in regret for the vengeance she had wanted. Soon, her flesh faded in her grief and only her voice was left to repeat the call of the birds and anyone who cried loud enough for her to hear.