Daphne 

Daphne was a lovely blooming fairy maiden¹．As she was playing merrily in the woods one day she saw Apollo the sun-god staring at her with more than amazement² and ad miration in his eyes．The beaming face of the sun put her to flight．The eager Apollo followed her closely behind，calling out to her to stop．His passion had been lighted by her beauty and grace．He was afraid that this might be the last time he saw her．The quick footed maiden made the best of her  legs ，but the passionate³ Apollo pressed hard upon  her ．Through rough fields and pathless woods she ran，but the sound of his pursuing feet ever grew nearer．As he ran he begged his beloved maiden to slow down，for he feared that she might fall and hurt her sparkling skin on the rocky roads．But the escaping maiden never cared so much about that．She even threw one glance back wards⁴ ．At last she was quite breathless and cried to her father，a rivergod，for help．No sooner had her prayer been uttered than  answered ，for she had instantly found herself glued to the ground and a layer of soft bark growing over her fair  skin ．She had been turned into a laurel tree．Sighing，Apollo put his arms around the tree trunk．The trunk responded by turning thinner．To show his undying love for the maiden，he decided⁵ that the laurel would be his favorite tree and should be the prize of honour and fame for deathless poets and  poetry ．Thus the most outstanding poet always desires to be made a poet  laureate ．

丹芙妮是位妩媚动人的仙女。有一天当她兴高采烈地在林中游玩时，她发现太阳神阿波罗用异常惊奇与羡慕的目光盯着自己。光芒四射的太阳使她害怕得飞跑起来。热切的太阳神紧随其后，竭力叫喊让她止步。她的美丽与优雅触发了他的激情。他惟恐这将是他们的最后一面。快步如飞的仙女拚命地奔跑，但情绪激昂的阿波罗紧追不放。她越过旷野，穿过人迹罕至的树林，但追赶的脚步声愈加逼近。他一边追赶，一边恳求心爱的仙女放慢脚步。他害怕仙女在石道上跌倒会擦破她那闪耀的皮肤。但奔逃的仙女根本不顾及这些。她甚至没朝身后瞥了一眼，最终她气喘吁吁地向她的父亲（河神）求救。她的恳求马上得到了回答。她很快发现自己如胶似漆地紧附地面。接着，妖嫩的皮肤上长出一层松软的树皮，她变成了一棵月桂树。太阳神唉声叹气地拥抱着树干，树干缩细了。为了表示他对仙女未泯的爱情，他将月桂树作为他最喜爱的树种，并决定将它作为一种对荣誉与威望的奖励，把它授予那些永恒的诗人和流芳百世的诗。因此最杰出的诗人总希望获得桂冠诗人的尊号。