The following Greek myth is the story of Selene, the moon goddess, and Endymion, the man she loved. This is myth from which Naoko most likely drew her names for the past form of the Moon Princess and Earth Prince.
Edith took this story from the third-century poet Theocritus. He tells it in the true Greek manner, simply and with restraint
"This youth, whose name is so famous, has a very short history. Some of the poets say he was a king, some a hunter, but most of them say he was a shepherd. All agree that he was a youth of surpassing beauty and that this was the cause of his singular fate.
Endymion the shephard,
As his flock he guarded
She, the Moon, Selene,
Saw him, loved him, sought him,
Coming down from the heaven
Kissed him, lay beside him,
Blessed is his fortune.
Evermore he slumbers,
Tossing nor turning,
Endymion the shepherd.
He never woke to see the shining silvery form bending over him. In all the stories about him he sleeps forever, immortal, but never conscious. Wondrously beautiful he lies on the mountainside, motionless and remote as if in death, but warm and living, and night after night the Moon visits him and covers him with her kisses. It is said that this magic slumber was her doing. She lulled him to sleep so that she might always find him and caress him as she pleased. But it is said too, that her passion brings her only burden of pain fraught with many sighs.
Hamilton, Edith. Mythology: Timeless Tales of Gods and Heroes. Penguin Books: New York, New York. Copyright: 1969
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