serendippitea:Apollo and Daphne by Henrietta Rae Apollo, the god of light, found Cupid playing with
serendippitea:Apollo and Daphne by Henrietta Rae Apollo, the god of light, found Cupid playing with his bows and arrows. Cupid was using bows to struck people into love. Apollo had got so arrogant that he abruptly told Cupid to leave war-like weapons to mighty gods like him and stick to his own pastimes, devaluing his duty to inflate love and passion to others. This infuriated Cupid who decided to take his revenge on the audacious Apollo. Cupid climbed on a rock of Mt Parnassus and unleashed two arrows: one sharp and gold-tipped and another blunt and lead-tipped. The sharp, gold-tipped arrow pierced the heart of Apollo inflaming his love for Daphne, a beautiful nymph, daughter of the river god Peneus, while the blunt, lead-tipped arrow struck the nymph creating an intense aversion for love in the her heart. She was constantly rejecting the love of the glorious Apollo, despite his repeated pleadings.The girl, in order to escape from him, pleaded for help from her father, Peneus, who drew back to Daphne’s prayers and transformed the nymph into a tree. This plant was the laurel, which is called “daphne” is Greek, after the nymph’s name. Apollo was heart-broken at the loss of Daphne and to remember her for ever, he made the laurel the symbol of tribute to poets. The laurel became therefore the symbol of the god. -- source link