Apollo and Daphne edit
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Apollo and Daphne is a story from ancient Greek mythology, retold by Hellenistic and Roman authors in the form of an amorous vignette; Thomas Bulfinch drew on those late sources in the following manner:

"Apollo and Daphne" by Antonio Pollaiuolo.

The curse of Apollo was brought onto him when he chided the young Eros for playing with bow and arrows.

Apollo was a great warrior and 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.”

The petulant Eros took two arrows, of gold and one of lead. With the leaden shaft, to incite hatred, he shot the nymph Daphne and with the golden one, to incite love, he shot Apollo through the heart. Apollo was seized with love for the maiden, and she in turn abhorred Apollo. In fact, she spurned her many would-be lovers preferring instead woodland sports and exploring the woods. Her father demanded that she get married so that she may give him grandchildren. She begged her father to let her remain unmarried.

He consented warning her, “Your own face will forbid it.”

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 him gain upon her.

Seeing that Apollo was bound to catch her, she called upon her father, “Help me, Peneus! 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 promised to tend her as his tree, promising that he would use his powers of eternal youth to make sure that she would always stay green, and since then the leaves of the Bay laurel tree have never known decay.

Apollo and Daphne in Art

In recent literature it is argued that "The Kiss" of Gustav Klimt is a symbolic picture of the kissing of Apollo to Daphne at the same moment she is transformed into a laurel tree.citation needed

References