SYRINX ran away from Pan; she thought he was so ugly. Pan chased after her, and, to escape from him, she changed herself into a reed. She stood among hundreds of other reeds on the riverbank, and Pan couldn’t find her. As he walked through the reed patch, sighing and looking for her in vain, the wind blew through the reeds. They swayed and bent and made a plaintive whistling sound. Pan listened, enchanted. "Thus you and I shall always sing together." he said.
He cut ten reeds into unequal lengths, tied them together, and made the first panpipe.
He called the new instrument his syrinx for every time he played on it he thought he heard the melodious voice of his beloved nymph. Again Pan was lonesome and he retreated to his cool cave, deep in the woods, and scared away all passers-by with his unearthly screams.
Splendid Apollo himself fared no belter than Pan when he fell in love with a nymph tailed Daphne. Daphne had a cold heart, she had vowed never to marry, and when Apollo wooed her, she would not listen to the sound of his golden lyre and ran away. As she fled, she was lovelier still, with her golden hair streaming behind her. and Apollo could not bear to lose her. He set off in pursuit, beseeching her to stop. Daphne ran toward the bank of a river that belonged to her father, the river-god Ladon, calling to him to save her from her pursuer.
Ladon had no time to rise out of his river bed and come to his daughter's rescue, but the moment Daphne's toes touched the sand of the riverbank, he changed them into roots.
Apollo, who was close at her heels, caught up with her, but the instant he threw his arms about her, her arms changed into branches, her lovely head into the crown of a tree, and she became a laurel. Still, inside the hard bark, Apollo could hear the beating of Daphne's frightened heart.
Apollo carefully broke off some twigs and made a wreath of the shining leaves. "Fair nymph," he said, "you would not be my bride, but at least consent to be my tree and your leaves shall crown my brow." Ever after, the greatest honor an artist or a hero could be given was to be crowned with a wreath from Apollo's sacred tree, the laurel. Daphne would rather be an unmoving tree than the bride of the great god Apollo, but all the other nymphs loved to sit at his feet and listen to his enchanting music, and were very honored when he or any of the other great Olympian gods chose one of them as a bride.
He cut ten reeds into unequal lengths, tied them together, and made the first panpipe.
He called the new instrument his syrinx for every time he played on it he thought he heard the melodious voice of his beloved nymph. Again Pan was lonesome and he retreated to his cool cave, deep in the woods, and scared away all passers-by with his unearthly screams.
Daphne and Apollo |
Apollo, who was close at her heels, caught up with her, but the instant he threw his arms about her, her arms changed into branches, her lovely head into the crown of a tree, and she became a laurel. Still, inside the hard bark, Apollo could hear the beating of Daphne's frightened heart.
Apollo carefully broke off some twigs and made a wreath of the shining leaves. "Fair nymph," he said, "you would not be my bride, but at least consent to be my tree and your leaves shall crown my brow." Ever after, the greatest honor an artist or a hero could be given was to be crowned with a wreath from Apollo's sacred tree, the laurel. Daphne would rather be an unmoving tree than the bride of the great god Apollo, but all the other nymphs loved to sit at his feet and listen to his enchanting music, and were very honored when he or any of the other great Olympian gods chose one of them as a bride.
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