Daphne

In Greek mythology, a river nymph who was changed by her mother, the earth goddess Gaia, into a laurel tree to escape Apollo's amorous pursuit. Determined to possess her, Apollo fashioned her branches and leaves into a crown and decorated his lyre and quiver with her foliage.

In another tradition, she was loved by Leucippus, son of King Oenomaus of Pisa in Elis. He disguised himself as a girl to mingle with her companions, but when his sex was revealed while bathing, he was killed by the nymphs.

Daphne's father was a river god, given variously as Ladon in Arcadia, Peneus in Thessaly, or Amyclas in Laconia

Daphne

Opera in one act by Richard Strauss (libretto by Joseph Gregor), first produced in Dresden, Germany, on 15 October 1938. In the story Daphne spurns Apollo and is turned into a laurel tree.