Pan & Syrinx

The Adventure of Pan and Syrinx

 One warm spring day, Pan scampered across the mountain peaks. Suddenly he came upon a group of wood nymphs fast asleep. The sun had made them drowsy. There, among these lovelies, was the beautiful Syrinx, and when Pan saw her, his heart pounded with love.

"I must have her," he said to himself, and he stepped quietly toward her, his arms outstretched to embrace her. But in his haste, the god stepped on a dry branch, and Syrinx heard the crack. Awakening, she saw those shining eyes and shaggy locks, and she leaped to her feet and fled into the woods. Syrinx did not want to be loved by anyone, but especially not by such a strange one as Pan.

Pan raced after her, and Syrinx became confused by the twisted paths. She darted between the trees, but then she saw that she was trapped, for there before her was the river Ladon, and Pan was close behind; she could hear his hooves upon the ground and could almost feel his breath.

Syrinx looked down at the water and prayed to the water nymphs. "Save me," she implored, "save me, please." When her sisters of the river heard her cry, they resolved to save her. But what could they do?

Then Pan was there, and he reached out to take Syrinx's arm, but just as he did, the nymphs performed their magic, and right before his eyes, Syrinx transformed into a slender marsh reed.

Pan, panting from his run, heaved a great sigh, and his sigh rushing over that reed made a sound that filled the air.

Pan looked down into the water where his beloved stood, and sorrowfully he sighed again, and this time he heard a deeper tone. Pan began to breathe upon the reeds, noticing the different sound each one made. ぇ※З◎wｗw.ＦaＩｒＹ－talE。iＮＦoЙほ≈

Although he was heartbroken, he collected the reeds, and with wax from his beehives, he fitted them together to make a set of pipes.

That evening, he sat beside the lake and blew upon his instrument. The forest was filled with beautiful music, and Pan sighed, but this time with happiness. And forever afterward the forests of Arcadia were filled with this magical music from the pipes of Pan.

I depicted the moment before her runaway