花的神話~Laurel 月桂~

MacabreYamato

Laurel  月桂~﹝中文版﹞

阿波羅的第一個情人是黛芙妮。事情的發生絕非偶然，而是邱比特故意搞的鬼。阿波羅剛斬了蟒蛇比桑，得意非凡，見到那孩子擺弄弓箭就說：「小鬼，打仗用的武器哪裡是小孩子玩的？把它們交給有資格用的人吧！看到我的成就了嗎？我就是靠弓箭除掉了盤踞數英畝的那條大毒蛇。孩子，還是玩火炬吧，照你的話說，就是點燃情火。你愛在哪兒點火都沒有關係。可是別再擺弄該由我用的武器。」

    維納斯的孩子反駁道：「你的弓箭可以射中萬物，但是我的卻能射中你。」說著他飛到了帕拿索斯的一塊岩石上，從箭袋裡取出了兩支造法不同的箭，一支有淚發愛情的功能，另一支卻會使人拒絕愛情。生愛的是尖頭金箭，拒愛的是鈍頭鉛箭。他把鉛頭箭射向河神帕尼斯的女兒，水澤仙女黛芙妮，把金箭射向阿波羅。從此，阿波羅對那位少女產生了強烈的愛情而少女卻對愛情深感厭惡，她只愛好在林中打獵逐獸。求愛者拉連不斷，但她一一回絕，不予理睬。她的父親常說：「女兒，妳該找個女婿了。」她總是羞得滿面通紅，她討厭結婚，覺得結婚就是犯罪。她摟著老父的頸子說：「親愛的父親，請允許終身不嫁，就像黛安娜一樣。」父親答應了這要求，但又說：「妳的容貌恐怕會使妳難以獨身一輩子。」

    阿波羅愛著她，渴望與她結合。他見到她披散在肩上的長髮就想：「這頭髮隨便披著已是如此迷人，經過梳理，將會有怎樣的風采？」他把她明亮的雙眼比作天上的明星，見到她的小嘴，就不能自持，他讚美她裸到了肩頭的雙臂和雙手，暗忖那衣服遮蓋的部分不知要美麗多少倍。他盯她的哨，她拔腿就跑。不論他怎樣地百般請求，也不肯放慢腳步。「等一等」，他說：「帕尼斯的女兒，我不會傷害妳，我追妳是因為我愛妳。我不是小丑，不是鄉野村民。我父親是宙斯，我本人是主管歌舞管弦的神。我射箭百發百中，自己卻被一支更加致命的箭刺穿心房！我司掌醫藥，諳知百草療效，但自己的病卻找不到靈藥來醫治。」

    他的懇求還沒有說完，少女已經跑遠了，就連她奔跑的姿態朼那麼令人心醉。阿波羅見到她把他的知心話全當耳邊風，就不耐煩起來。在邱比特的鼓動下，他竟追了上來。那情景就像獵狗追逐野兔，一個張著大嘴就要下口去咬，而那弱小的動物，連蹦帶竄，叫它捕捉不著。神祇和女貞就這麼一前一後地跑著，他插上的是愛情之翼，她踏著的是恐懼之輪。可是追的比逃的要快，眼看就要追上，他噴出來的氣已經能吹起她的頭髮。她跑得雙腿發軟，力不從心了，於是她乞求父親河神：「救救我，讓大地張開口把我吞掉，要不然改變我的形體，免得再惹來這種危險。」話剛說完她就四肢僵硬，上半身長出一層樹皮，頭髮變成綠葉，雙臂變成枝葉，兩腳釘在地上像扎在地裡的樹根；面孔變成了樹冠，完全失去了原來的人形，但是優美的儀態猶存。阿波羅愕然不知所措。他用手觸摸樹幹，感到隱藏在新樹皮下的肌肉還在索索發抖。他說：「既然我不能娶妳為妻，我要妳做我的聖樹。我將把妳戴在頭上作王冠，用妳裝飾豎琴和箭袋。等到偉大的羅馬征服軍凱旋回到首都，我就用妳編成花冠給他們加冕。我的青春常在，妳也將四季常青，綠葉永不凋零。」仙女現在已是一棵月桂樹了，它垂下頭，表示謝意。

MacabreYamato

Laurel  月桂﹝英文版﹞

    Daphne was Apollo's first love. It was not brought about by accident, but by the malice of Cupid (Eros). Apollo saw the boy playing with his bow and arrows; and being himself elated with his recent victory over Python, he said to him, "What have you to do with warlike weapons, saucy boy? Leave them for hands worthy of them, Behold the conquest I have won by means of them over the vast serpent who stretched his poisonous body over acres of the plain! Be content with your torch, child, and kindle up your flames, as you call them, where you will, but presume not to meddle with my weapons."

    Venus's boy heard these words, and rejoined, "Your arrows may strike all things else, Apollo, but mine shall strike you." So saying, he took his stand on a rock of Parnassus, and drew from his quiver two arrows of different workmanship, one to excite love, the other to repel it. The former was of gold and ship pointed, the latter blunt and tipped with lead. With the leaden shaft he struck the nymph Daphne, the daughter of the river god Peneus [river in Thessaly], and with the golden one Apollo, through the heart. Forthwith the god was seized with love for the maiden, and she abhorred the thought of loving. Her delight was in woodland sports and in the spoils of the chase. lovers sought her, but she spurned them all, ranging the woods, and taking no thought of Cupid nor of Hymen. Her father often said to her, "Daughter, you owe me a son-in-law; you owe me grandchildren." She, hating the thought of marriage as a crime, with her beautiful face tinged all over with blushes, threw her arms around her father's neck, and said, "Dearest father, grant me this favour, that I may always remain unmarried, like Diana (Artemis)." He consented, but at the same time said, "Your own face will forbid it."

    Apollo loved her, and longed to obtain her; and he who gives oracles to all the world was not wise enough to look into his own fortunes. He saw her hair flung loose over her shoulders, and said, "If so charming, in disorder, what would it be if arranged?" He saw her eyes bright as stars; he saw her lips, and was not satisfied with only seeing them. He admired her hands and arms, naked to the shoulder, and whatever was hidden from view he imagined more beautiful still. He followed her; she fled, swifter than the wind, and delayed not a moment at his entreaties. "Stay," said he, "daughter of Peneus; I am not a foe. Do not fly me as a lamb flies the wolf, or a dove the hawk. It is for love I pursue you. You make me miserable, for fear you should fall and hurt yourself on these stones, and I should be the cause. Pray run slower, and I will follow slower. I am no clown, no rude peasant. Jupiter (Zeus) is my father, and I am lord of Delphos and Tenedos, and know all things, present and future. I am the god of song and the lyre . My arrows fly true to the mark; but, alas! an arrow more fatal than mine has pierced my heart! I am the god of medicine, and know the virtues of all healing plants. Alas! I suffer a malady that no balm can cure!"

    The nymph continued her flight, and left his plea half uttered. And even as she fled she charmed him. The wind blew her garments, and her unbound hair streamed loose behind her. The god grew impatient to find his wooings thrown away, and, sped by Cupid, gained upon her in the race. It was like a hound pursuing a hare, with open jaws ready to seize, while the feebler animal darts forward, slipping from the very grasp. So flew the god and the virgin- he on the wings of love, and she on those of fear. The pursuer is the more rapid, however, and gains upon her, and his panting breath blows upon her hair. Her strength begins to fail, and, ready to sink, she calls upon her father, the river god: "Help me, Peneus! open the earth to enclose me, or change my form, which has brought me into this danger!" Scarcely had she spoken, when a stiffness seized all her limbs; her bosom began to be enclosed in a tender bark; her hair became leaves; her arms became branches; her foot stuck fast in the ground, as a root; her face became a tree-top, retaining nothing of its former self but its beauty, Apollo stood amazed. He touched the stem, and felt the flesh tremble under the new bark. He embraced the branches, and lavished kisses on the wood. The branches shrank from his lips. "Since you cannot be my wife," said he, "you shall assuredly be my tree. I will wear you for my crown; I will decorate with you my harp and my quiver; and when the great Roman conquerors lead up the triumphal pomp to the Capitol, you shall be woven into wreaths for their brows. And, as eternal youth is mine, you also shall be always green, and your leaf know no decay." The nymph, now changed into a Laurel tree, bowed its head in grateful acknowledgment.

資料來源：http://w3.ly.ks.edu.tw/~atlantia/mythology/myth1.htm

邪惡喵喵

原來月桂有那麼大的來歷...

感謝分享~^^