
Narcissus was not capable of loving anyone and had been cruel to his would-be lovers, mostly male. He considered Echo a nuisance, particularly since she had what he must have thought a weird habit of repeating what he said. He turned coldly away from her each time she came near. Echo pined away until finally she disappeared altogether; only her voice remained. At the same time she was pining away so was Narcissus, since one of his rejected lovers had prayed to Nemesis to punish the self-centered youth. Nemesis caused him to fall in love with his reflection in a pool, and thereafter he could not bear to leave the beautiful youth staring up at him from the depths. In this way he, like Echo, disappeared; in his accustomed place by the pool, a flower grew that was named for him.
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