那喀索斯是位英俊的青年,面容可愛,體形優(yōu)美,每個見到他的人都羨慕不已。他驕傲地認為,除了自己之外,沒有人配欣賞他那充滿青春氣息的美貌。因而,他沉溺于甜美的自我欣賞之中,遠離所有人。每天他在蒼翠蓊郁的小山谷中閑逛,瘋狂地愛著自己。
When he was delightfully wandering through the woods one day, a wood fairy maiden, Echo by name, caught sight of him. She was excited at once. Joyfully coming down towards Narcissus, she stretched out her loving arms. To her dismay, however, the young man roughly brushed her aside and went by without so much as a glance at her. The poor fairy maiden's face turned red and quickly withdrew to a shady spot, following the object of her love with her longing eyes.
一天,那喀索斯在樹林中愉快地游蕩。一位名叫回聲的林中仙女看見了他,她立刻興奮不已。她高興地走向那喀索斯,伸出愛的雙臂。然而,令她吃驚的是,這位青年粗暴地將她推開,連看都不看她一眼就走開了??蓱z的仙女羞紅了臉,迅速退到遮陰處,含情脈脈地凝望著心上人。
Presently Narcissus stopped to drink from a little stream. Kneeling down on the bank,he saw a lovely face in the clear water. His heart gave a beat. lie smiled and was smiled back to. Thinking that it must be a maiden in love with him, he bent down to kiss her. But as soon as he touched the clear surface the lovely face disappeared. The angry youth was
now desperate. Never had he been looked down upon like that before. Day and night,he stayed at the stream without drinking and eating. Before long he died, never suspecting that his maiden was just his own image in the stream. The gods took pity on the fair dead body and turned it into a flower bearing his name. This flower was the first narcissus. All the flowers of this family, when they grow by the side of a pond or a stream, still bend their beautiful heads and look at the reflection of their ovm faces in the water.
不久,那喀索斯在一條小溪邊停下飲水。當(dāng)他跪在岸邊時,他發(fā)現(xiàn)清澈的溪水中有一張可愛的面龐。他的心撲通跳著,他對著水中的人微笑,水中人也給了他一個微笑。他認為,一定是一位仙女愛上了他。于是,他俯下身子去吻她。但是,當(dāng)他的嘴唇一接觸清澈的溪水,水中可愛的面容就消失了。這位惱怒的青年人此時變得絕望了,他從未受過如此的鄙視。他日夜待在溪邊,不吃不喝,不久就死了,但他從未懷疑過水中的女子只是自已的影子罷了。眾神非常憐憫他那優(yōu)美的軀體,將之變成了一朵花,和青年同名,這朵花就是第一朵水仙花,當(dāng)它們生長在池塘或溪流旁時,仍然低下它們美麗的頭看著水里自已的影子。
The intoxicated Echo saw all this. Slowly she became weak, until at last nothing remained of her except her voice.
那位陶醉于愛河的回聲親眼日睹了這一切她日斬憔悴,最后,除了聲音之外,她化為了烏有。