87 
“ I have the same claim to your notice as the 
Hyacinth,” she said, “ for I, too, was a mortal once. 
Great injustice has been done to Narcissus, of whom 
it is said that he was so in love with lus own face, 
reflected in a fountain, that he killed himself with 
vexation, because that was only a shadow. I will 
tell you the true story. Narcissus had a sister 
whom he deeply loved, and with whom he hunted 
in the woods, and sported by the mountain streams. 
She died, and his only consolation was to gaze at 
himself in a fountain, because his face so nfally 
resembled hers that it seemed to recal her to his 
sight. But it was not herself. He could nolongei 
hear the voice of the loved one, nor embrace her 
gentle form ; and when he killed himself for grief, 
and the nymphs of the fountain rais^fu^al pile 
to burn his body, that they might preserve the lov- 
