希腊神话：DRYOPE-德瑞欧琵

Dryope was a beautiful Greek woman whom the gods punished harshly. One day Dryope and her sister went walking to gather flowers along the river. Dryope carried her baby boy in her arms，and beside them ran Iole，her sister，gathering myrtleand violets，never guessing what would happen before they returned.
Soon Dryope grew tired carrying her baby，and sat down to rest on a grassy bank beside the water. Near her a lovely lotustree drooped its branches over the water，and the baby reached his hands toward the purple flowers.
Dryope picked some of the clusters and gave them to the baby， and Iole had just reached her hand to gather another cluster when they noticed purple drops falling from the broken stems.
Just then an aged wood-gatherercame by，and raising his hands in horror said that the nymph Lotis lived in this tree. They had broken the branches and now the nymph would die. Surely the gods would send a terrible punishment.
As he spoke，Dryope felt a strange stiffnesscome into her feet， and barkbegan to creep upwards over her body. Branches sprang from her two arms，and she could no longer fold them around the baby，who fell tumblingto the grass.
Iole clung to her sister as if she would hold back the brown bark that crept over her.
Soon a young lotus tree stood in Dryope's place. Only her face remained among the branches and looked sadly down on her baby and her sister.
She begged that Iole would bring the baby every day to play under the tree，and charged her especially to teach him never to break a branch or to pick a flower. As she spoke the leaves spread over her face，and Dryope was completely hidden by the tree.
To be shut up like this forever seems terrible，but no doubt Dryope soon began to feel like the nymphs who chose trees for their dwellings.
When the sun came up each morning and shone on her leaves，she must have felt a comfortingwarmth. In midsummer，she must have been glad when the rain came dropping on her boughs. And how happy and proud must Dryope have felt in blossom time，when every one of her boughs hung heavy with white and purple flowers!
Each day her little boy was carried to the river bank to talk with his mother in the lotus tree，and her branches would reach down and touch him with a caress.
When he was no longer a baby，her son still came to the tree. Even when he grew up，he sat in its shade to rest and to tell his mother about his happiness，his troubles，and his victories.