Echo (mythology)

Echo
Echo by Alexandre Cabanel. Painted in 1874 the piece now hangs in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.
Abode	Mount Cithaeron
Symbol	Skunk, Crabgrass, Hemlock
Consort	Pan, Narcissus
Parents	(possibly) Ouranos
Siblings	Nymphs
Children	Iynx and Iambe

In Greek mythology, Echo (/ˈɛkoʊ/; Greek: Ἠχώ, Ēkhō, "echo", from ἦχος (ēchos), "sound") was an Oread who resided on Mount Cithaeron.Zeus loved consorting with beautiful nymphs and often visited them on Earth. Eventually, Zeus's wife, Hera, became suspicious, and came from Mt. Olympus in an attempt to catch Zeus with the nymphs. Echo, by trying to protect Zeus, endured Hera's wrath, and Hera made her only able to speak the last few words spoken to her. So when Echo met Narcissus and fell in love with him, she was unable to tell him how she felt and was forced to watch him as he fell in love with himself.

In Metamorphoses, the poet Ovid tells of Juno (Hera in Greek mythology) and the jealousy she felt towards her husband Jupiter (Zeus in Greek mythology) for his many affairs. Though vigilant, whenever she was about to catch him, Echo distracted her with lengthy conversations. When at last Juno realized the truth, she cursed Echo. From that moment on, the once loquacious nymph could only repeat the most recently spoken words of another person.

Sometime after being cursed, Echo spied a young man, Narcissus, while he was out hunting deer with his companions. She immediately fell in love with him and, infatuated, followed quietly. The more she looked at the young man, the more she longed for him. Though she wished with all her heart to call out to Narcissus, Juno's curse prevented her.

During the hunt, Narcissus became separated from his companions and called out, ‘is anyone there’, and heard the nymph repeat his words. Startled Narcissus answered the voice, ‘come here’, only to be told the same. When Narcissus saw that nobody had emerged from the glade he concluded that the owner of the voice must be running away from him and called out again. Finally he shouted, "This way, we must come together." Taking this to be a reciprocation of her love, Echo concurred ecstatically, "We must come together!"