Nymph

The Nymphs were beautiful female divinities of nature. The nymphs who inhabited the mountains were known a Oreads, the nymphs who were associated with the rivers, brooks and springs were the Naiads, the wood nymphs were the Dryads and the tree nymphs were the Hamadryads. One of the most famous of the nymphs was Echo. It is said that as an attendant of the gods she kept Hera busy listening to her idle chatter while Zeus was carrying on his various affairs with other nymphs. Hera eventually discovered Echo's little ruse, and turned on the unfortunate nymph. Hera punished Echo by declaring that from that point onwards, she would never speak again except to repeat the sounds that she heard. Sometime later Echo saw the beautiful youth Narcissus and fell deeply in love with him, but, of course, she could not speak to him unless she was spoken to. Finally one day in the forest Narcissus called out, "Is anyone there?" and Echo answered, "Here". As Narcissus could see no one, he called out again, "Come" and Echo responded "Come". Narcissus called out, "Why do you shun me?" and Echo answered with the same reply. Very confused about what Narcissus had just heard, he called out again, "Let us meet here" and Echo repeated the words, emerged from the woods and was prepared to throw her arms around Narcissus. Narcissus repelled by her boldness, rejected her instantly, and fled. From that day on, Echo hid her shame in the woods and in the caves, wasting away until nothing was left, except her voice. Narcissus, however, was punished for scorning the love of the maiden. One day Narcissus happened to see his own reflection in a clear pool and became so enamoured of it, that he could not leave it, Narcissus pined away and eventually became a flower which bears his name. The Sirens were maidens who lived on an island in the sea and by their singing lured to their death. The sirens endeavoured to trap the Argonauts with their song and later sought to enchant Odysseus on his voyage. According to some accounts, there were two sirens, Aglaiophemic ("clear-speaker") and Thelxiepeia ("magic-speaker"), but other accounts say there were three, one of whom was said to play the lyre, the second the pipes and the third to sing. Their names were given as Leukosia, Ligeia and Parthenope. In some later accounts they are pictured as having the bodies of women, but the underbody of feathers and the feet of birds. They are often referred as to as the daughter of the river god Achelous by one of The Muses, either Terpischore or Calliope. After their failure to attract the sailors of Odysseus, they are said to have thrown themselves into the sea and become rocks.