One day he dared to laugh at Eros, better known as Cupid, who was practicing with his bow. This, feeling humiliated by the arrogant god, he decided to teach him a lesson. When Apollo was hunting in the forest, he saw in the distance a beautiful young woman named Daphne, who was actually a nymph.
Eros decided to seize the moment and shot two arrows. The one that shot Apollo was made of gold, which produced passionate love. However, Daphne was shot with a lead arrow, the effect of which was exactly the opposite, to feel hatred and revulsion towards the god who had fallen in love with her.
Apollo then decided to chase Daphne wherever she went until he got her love, but Daphne, under the effects of the lead arrow, fled as she could from him. Daphne, tired of so much flight and just when Apollo was able to reach her, asked her father for help, the river god. He, having compassion for her daughter, decided to do the only thing that he could save her: he turned her into a tree, the laurel.