A tree by any other name

I first read about the origin of my name from a children's edition of Greek myths when I was a kid. I was not pleased that I was named after a tree.

Daphne and Apollo (or, How the Babe Gave Him Wood)

Daphne was a river nymph, daughter of the river god Peneus. The god of light Apollo had teased Eros (Roman: Cupid) who later shot him with a golden arrow when he saw Daphne, causing him to desire her madly. Eros then shot her with a lead arrow, which repulsed her from Apollo.

Guys, what do you do when a chick rejects you? Try to run her down, of course! So when she literally ran away from Apollo when he tried to get fresh with her, he gave chase. After a long chase - and it must have been a LONG chase since she was a very fit lady who dedicated herself to Artemis the hunter goddess (who was also chaste) - when she realised she couldn't outrun him, she pleaded with her father to save her. Daddy turned her into a tree. Apollo was heartbroken of course, and declared the laurel tree to be very special indeed, so special that its leaves would adorn the heads of victors and kings. (Which, for some bizarre reason, reminds me of the Garden of Eden story where the couple wore leaves around their private parts for modesty. What would you then think of a man who wore leaves on his head??)While it's kinda cool she attracted the affections of an obsessed psycho, I'm not sure if her idea of being saved entailed being turned into kayu. The sculpture of them by Bernini as shown above is pretty cool, though. I read somewhere that it was positioned by a stairway, such that when you entered the room, you would see Apollo's behind (woohoo) and Daphne's human side. As you walked towards the staircase, you'd see Daphne's metamorphosis as the side of her that had turned to wood came into your field of view.