Apollo and Daphne: An Unrequited Love. Greek mythology

One day, Cupid, the little god of love, was sitting on the bank of a river, playing with his arrows. The arrows were very small. Some had gold tips and others lead. None of them seemed capable of doing much damage. That day Apollo, the great sun god, was walking along the bank of the same river, when he was returning from his fight with the serpent of darkness, called the python. He had just used a large number of his wonderful golden arrows to kill this gigantic snake. Feeling very proud of his victory over the python, he said, seeing Cupid in his game, hello. What are little arrows like these for? Cupid's feelings were greatly hurt by this. He didn't say anything, but he took the little arrows from him and flew to the top of Mount Parnassus. There he sat down on the grass and drew a lead-tipped arrow from his quiver. Looking around her for some mark for her arrow, he saw Daphne walking through a grove of woods. Daphne was the daughter of Penias, the river god. She was so beautiful that sleeping flowers lifted their heads from her and burst at her arrival. Cupid shot the lead-tipped arrow straight into Daphne's heart. Although she did not do any other harm to him, this small blunt arrow made Daphne feel afraid, and not knowing what she was running from, she started to run. Then Cupid, who was very mischievous, took from his quiver an arrow with a golden tip and with it he wounded Apollo. The golden arrow had the power to make Apollo love the first thing he saw. This turned out to be Daphne, the river nymph, who ran past at that moment, her golden hair streaming behind her. Apollo told Daphne that there was nothing to fear, then, as she did not stop running, he ran after her. The faster Apollo followed him, the faster Daphne ran, and she was more and more afraid, because her little lead-tipped arrow stuck into her heart. She ran until she reached the bank of her father's river, and by then she was so tired that she couldn't run anymore. She asked her father for help. The river god heard her, and before Apollo could reach her, he transformed her into a tree, a beautiful tree with brilliant evergreen leaves and flowers as rosy as Daphne's own cheeks. When Apollo went up with Daphne, there she was, on the river bank, no longer a nymph, but a beautiful tree. At first, Apollo was heartbroken to see how he had lost Daphne. It was all the fault of the little golden-tipped arrow. Since this tree was the only thing left of Daphne, Apollo loved it and said that it should be planted next to her temple. He made himself a crown with its evergreen leaves, which he always wore for Daphne's sake. This tree still grows in Greece and is called Apollo's Laurel.