S1E4 - Echo and Narcissus

This week's episode contains jealous gods, flirtatious behavior, reflective surfaces, and a lot of repetition.

Also, repetition.

Get it?

Breaking out the greatest stories in history were told in Greek mythology.

Breaking out gods and heroes' amazing feats.

Listen and you'll see it's breaking

out.

This is the story of Echo and Narcissus.

And unlike a lot of famous Greek myths, it's important to understand that this is not a hero story.

And it's not a love story.

Well, not really anyway.

But it is one of the most well-known stories in all of Greek mythology.

In English, we say narcissus, but the proper Greek pronunciation is actually narcissus.

Right, that brings up a good point.

Before we start, let's talk about words.

A word is a single distinct meaningful element of speech or writing used to form a sentence.

Etymology is the study of the history of words.

Exactly.

A lot of the words we use in the English language originally came from ancient Greek or Latin.

For example, echo.

In modern times, an echo is a sound that seems to be repeated because the sound waves are reflected back.

Sound waves, like your voice, can actually bounce off smooth, hard objects in the same way a ball bounces off the ground.

Many times, it bounces right back at the sender, making it sound like someone is repeating what was said.

Exactly.

And one of the things we'll learn from this story is how the word echo came to be.

So let's start there.

Echo was a wood nymph.

She was kind and loving and she had a beautiful voice and she loved to sing.

So she was basically the classic cartoon princess version of a wood nymph.

Singing in the forest, laughing with her animal friends.

You get the picture.

Now, the Greeks believed that nymphs were mystical female beings who lived in and around nature.

Forests, mountains, rivers, meadows, wherever.

Since Echo was a wood nymph, she lived in the forest with her sisters, and she enjoyed talking with the animals and playing among the trees.

And even though many guys liked her, she wasn't really interested in romance.

She just loved the forest.

Seriously, she was like a character straight out of a movie.

Her kind heart and love of the woods made her a favorite of Artemis, the goddess of the hunt and plants and animals.

But she was also a favorite of Zeus, king of Olympus.

And that's what got her into trouble.

Even though he was married to Hera, Zeus had eyes for other women.

Lots of other women.

He was a bit of a

how do I put this?

Ladies' man.

Ladiesman, also known as a libertine, Casanova, philanderer, player, flirt, rake, silver.

Let's go with flirt.

Yeah, flirt.

He liked to sneak out of Olympus and come down to Earth to chat with pretty girls, especially the wood nymphs.

They would smile at him and hang on his every word as he bragged about his lady's victory, hurling thunderbolts out to impress the crowd.

He was the king of the gods, after all, and he was charming, and he had a nice beard, and that helped.

But as you can imagine, Zeus's wife Hera wasn't about all that.

As soon as she found out Zeus was missing, she would fly down from Olympus and begin scouring the woods for her husband.

Zeus usually made a quick escape before Hera found him, but on one particular day, Hera was too quick.

She nearly caught him.

Thinking quickly, Echo stepped in to help.

She never really flirted with Zeus herself, but she didn't want anything bad to happen to her sisters, so she distracted Hera.

Because although Hera was the goddess of women and marriage, she was mostly known for the horrible punishment she used on people who displeased her.

Hello, my queen.

My, you look beautiful beautiful today.

Love the hair.

Is that a new crown?

Echo was very charming and sweet, as you know, so it worked.

And Zeus made his getaway.

But unfortunately, that wasn't the end of it.

Zeus was always willing to push his luck.

He figured if it worked once, it'd work again.

So he instructed Echo to keep an eye out for Hera and to distract her every time he visited the woods.

Echo didn't like this, but she also didn't want to disobey a god, so she reluctantly did as she was asked.

Sometimes it was a compliment.

Nice gown.

Sometimes it was a good story.

I heard Hermes stole an entire herd of cattle.

Sometimes it was a question.

Do you like this flower crown I made?

Be honest.

But every time Hera appeared in the woods looking for Zeus, Echo found a way to keep her busy long enough for Zeus to slip away.

You use 72 different muscles every time you talk.

Your tongue alone contains eight muscles.

Eventually, Hera caught on and she punished Echo with a terrible curse.

From that point forward, Echo's beautiful voice would be almost entirely silenced.

She would still be able to talk, but only to repeat the last few words anyone said to her.

That is sad, but echoes can be helpful.

For example, echolocation, also called biosonar, is used by several species like bats and dolphins.

These creatures emit calls out to the environment and listen to the echoes that return from various objects near them.

They use these echoes to locate and identify objects.

Scientists have also used sound waves to control a worm's brain.

Thanks, Oracle.

That is neat.

Neat is an adjective meaning arranged in an orderly or tidy way.

You know what?

You're right, but we're getting off topic here.

We still have a lot more story to tell, and we're not done with echo yet.

Echo yet.

Uh-huh.

See See what I did there.

Good one.

Now let's meet Narcissus.

He's the other half of this story and well, he's just ridiculously good looking.

I'm talking Chris Hemsworth on a good day handsome.

Narcissus was the son of a nymph named Lyriope and the river god Cephisus.

So he had that going for him right off the bat and he was so attractive, even as a baby.

In fact, he was so extraordinarily beautiful that his parents were actually worried about how this might affect their son.

So Lyriope and Cephysis paid a visit to the famous seer Tiresias and asked about what to do regarding their son's future.

In Greek mythology, Tiresias was a blind prophet of Apollo in Thebes, famous for soothsaying or being able to see the future.

He is a character in several well-known legends and was both a man and a woman at different times in his life.

Tiresias told them that the boy would grow old only if, quote, he didn't get to know himself.

His parents weren't exactly sure what that meant.

A lot of the Oracles back then were famously vague, but vague is an adjective meaning of uncertain, indefinite, or unclear character or meaning.

Thank you, Oracle, for clarifying vague for us.

See what I did there?

Yeah, another good one.

You're on a roll today.

Anyway, Narcissus grew into an extremely handsome young man, but he never found anyone he thought was as attractive as he was.

So he spent a lot of time alone and he left a lot of broken hearts in his wake.

Remembering what Tiresias had told them, Labriope and Cephysis sent their son to live in the forest as a hunter.

They figured if he didn't encounter as many people or shiny surfaces, he would never really know how beautiful he was and he could stay out of harm's way.

But they were very wrong.

One day, While he was out hunting in the woods, Narcissus was seen by a very shy and quiet wood nymph.

Who do you think it was?

The wood nymph referenced at this point in the story is in fact Echo, who was mentioned previously.

Yeah, okay, that was actually a rhetorical question I didn't really want an answer, but you're right, it was Echo.

And much to her surprise, she took one look at Narcissus and immediately fell deeply in love.

Unfortunately, Echo couldn't tell Narcissus she loved him.

She couldn't say hello and introduce herself or make small talk.

Because of the curse, she could only repeat what others said to her.

So she followed Narcissus and waited for a chance to reveal herself to him.

But first, a word from our sponsor.

Ugh, perfect timing as always.

Okay, all right.

Hey there.

Do you ever wonder what would happen if Cinderella started her own rock band or if Medusa realized just how cool her hair was?

Well, there's a Webby award-winning show called Girl Tales that takes classic stories and puts a unique twist on them, giving girls the chance to save the day, use their intelligence and bravery, and show that they can be the heroes of their own stories.

If you are ready for an adventure, find girl tales wherever you get your podcasts.

Welcome to Mount Olympus Pet Center, where the podcast Greaking Out inspires Zeus the hamster and his wild crew of critters to go on quests of mythical proportions.

Join Poseidon the Pufferfish, Demeter the Grasshopper, Athena the Cat, and Aries the Pug as they pursue epic adventures in the name of the gods.

Zeus the Mighty, The Quest for the Golden Fleas, is the first book in a new Nat Geo Kids fiction series for middle-grade readers.

Available wherever books are sold.

Discover more at ZeusTheMighty.com.

After a short while, Narcissus realized that someone was watching him.

Years of hunting in the woods had made him sensitive to these things, and he could feel the eyes upon him.

Who's there?

he said, looking around.

Echo so desperately wanted to say hello, but instead all she could say was, who's there?

Back again.

Where are you?

demanded Narcissus.

Are you?

Echo said back softly.

Come to me, Narcissus insisted, but all he heard was a small voice repeating his words.

So Narcissus began to search for the source of the voice, but Echo, being a wood nymph, was able to hide among the trees so easily that she was practically invisible.

After a long search, Narcissus came upon a stream that opened into a pool of clear water.

When he looked into the water, Narcissus saw the most beautiful person he had ever seen staring back at him, and he instantly fell in love.

Of course, he was only seeing his own reflection in the water, but since he'd never seen it before, he didn't know that.

A reflection is the image of something in a mirror or on any reflective surface.

It can also refer to the return of light, heat, sound, or energy from a surface.

Your reflection is what you see in the mirror, but other things that bounce back to you are also reflections, light waves, sound waves, even your own thoughts.

Come to me, Narcissus begged, looking into the water.

Come to me, Echo replied eagerly.

Let us meet now, Narcissus said, thinking that the voice he was hearing belonged to the face he saw in the water.

Meet now, Echo agreed, and she stepped out from behind a thicket of bushes, revealing herself to Narcissus.

Narcissus took one look at Echo and frowned.

What is this wood nymph doing here, he thought?

Go away, he told her.

This was obviously not the reaction that Echo was hoping for.

He did not recognize her as the voice from the woods, and he seemed only interested in the face he saw in the water.

Go away, she echoed sadly and sank back into the forest.

Things did not go well for Narcissus either.

He came back to that same pool pool of water again and again to stare at his reflection.

Echo couldn't keep from coming back either.

She hid herself from sight and quietly repeated the things that Narcissus said to his reflection as if he were saying them to her.

What love could be crueler than this, he cried.

When my lips kiss my beloved, they touch only water.

When I reach for my beloved, I hold only water.

Only water, Echo replied.

Day after day, Narcissus laid by the stream, admiring his own reflection, devastated that he couldn't touch or hold it.

He stopped eating, he stopped drinking, he began to waste away from grief until one morning he felt himself dying.

Goodbye, my love, he said to his reflection.

Goodbye, my love, Echo cried to Narcissus, and he took his last breath.

After he died, The other wood nymphs searched for his body, but there was none to be found.

In its place, the nymphs saw that the gods had transformed him into a magnificent flower with white petals and a yellow center, and to this day, we still call that flower Narcissus.

As for Echo, she was so forlorn and sad after what had happened that she hid herself in a cave in the mountains for the remainder of her days.

She began to fade away until all that was left of her was her voice.

And even now, Echo's distant voice can still be heard in the mountain mountain caves repeating the last words that anyone says.

That was a bummer.

Yeah, I know.

But some real talk here.

Not all stories will have happy endings, but that doesn't mean that they're not important.

Thanks for listening to this week's episode of Greaking Out.

Stay tuned for next week's episode about a weaver with a lot to say.

National Geographic Kids Greaking Out is written and hosted by Kenny Curtis, with Tori Kerr as the Oracle of Wi-Fi, audio production and sound design by Scotty Beam.

Jennifer Emmett is EVP of Kids Content at National Geographic and Kate Hale edits Zeus the Mighty.

Diane Klein is our fact checker and Perry Gripp composed our themes.

Emily Everhart is our production manager.