Mythology

Pen and Ink project

illustrating a story from the past

Art II
Huff
Apollo and Daphne
The Story:

The curse of Apollo, the god of the sun and music, was brought onto him
when he insulted the young Eros for playing with bow and arrows.

The petulant Eros took two arrows, one of gold and one of lead. The gold
one was supposed to incite love, while the lead one was supposed to
incite hatred. With the leaden shaft, Eros shot the nymph Daphne and
with the golden one, he shot Apollo through the heart. Apollo was
seized with love for the maiden, Daphne, and she in turn abhorred him.

In fact, she spurned her many potential lovers, preferring instead

woodland sports and exploring the woods.

Her father, Peneus, demanded that she get married so that she may give
him grandchildren, as was custom in Greece.[why?] However, she begged
her father to let her remain unmarried, like Apollo's twin sister,
Artemis.
Apollo continually followed her, begging her to stay, but the nymph
continued her flight. They were evenly matched in the race until Eros
intervened and helped Apollo gain upon Daphne.
Seeing that Apollo was bound to catch her, she called
upon her father, "Help me! Open the earth to enclose
me, or change my form, which has brought me into
this danger!"
Suddenly, her skin turned into bark, her hair became
leaves, and her arms were transformed into branches.
She stopped running as her feet became rooted to the
ground. Apollo embraced the branches, but even the
branches shrank away from him. Since Apollo could no
longer take her as his wife, he vowed to tend her as his
tree, and promised that her leaves would decorate the
heads of leaders as crowns, and that her leaves were
also to be depicted on weapons. Apollo also used his
powers of eternal youth and immortality to render her
ever green. Since then, the leaves of the Bay laurel tree
have never known decay.
• http://www.online-mythology.com/

• http://greece.mrdonn.org/greekgods/index.ht
ml
• http://www.windows2universe.org/mytholog
y/hyades.html