The Laurel of Apollo

One day Cupid, the son of Venus, sat on the bank of a river, playing with his bow and arrows. The arrows were very tiny. Some of them had points of gold and the others points of lead. With the former Cupid shot love into people’ s hearts; with the latter he shot fear into them. Just then Apollo, the great sun-god, happened to walk along the bank of the same river and when he saw Cupid at his play, he laughed at him and said, “ Ho! What are such little arrows as these good for? ” Cupid’ s feelings were very much hurt at this. He said nothing, but decided to use his arrows on Apollo. So he drew out two arrows a leaden one and a golden one. Looking all about him for some mark for his arrow, he saw Daphne, the daughter of the river-god, walking through a grove. Cupid shot the leaden-pointed arrow straight at Daphne’ s heart. With the golden one he struck Apollo. As soon as Apollo saw Daphne, he loved her very much, but she was afraid and ran away. Apollo ran after her, calling that there was nothing to fear, but she would not stop running .The faster Apollo followed, the faster Daphne ran. She ran till she came to the bank of her father’s river, and she was so tired that she could run no farther. She called to her father for help. The river-god heard her, and before Apollo could overtake her, changed her into a tree, a beautiful tree with glossy evergreen leaves and pink blossoms as beautiful own cheeks. When Apollo came up with Daphne, there she stood on the bank of the river, not a nymph any longer, but a beautiful tree. Apollo gathered some of the leaves and made himself a wreath of its evergreen leaves, which he always wore for Daphne’s sake. This tree still grows in Greece and is called the Laurel of Apollo.