Dryad: A Wood Nymph, especially of Greek origin.
Nymph: Any of numerous female spirits dwelling in woodlands and waters. Beautiful maidens, lesser divinities of nature. Dryads and Hamadryads. Tree Nymphs, Naiads. Spring, Brook, and River Nymphs. Nereids, see Nymphs, Oreads, Mountain Nymphs, or Hill Nymphs,
In Greek Mythology, there are three prominent examples of Dryads that appear in the stories of Erisichthon, and Rhoecus, and Daphne. But like the definition at length above, they assume many derivative forms and have different classifiers where countless stories can be found.
The story below has been borrowed from the Age of Fable by Thomas Bulfinch and has been retold.
Erisichthon
There once was a profane man named Erisichthon, he despised the gods and had no respect for any of them. He boldly violated a grove that belonged to Ceres, the Goddess of Corn. In the grove stood a mighty oak tree, that towered over all the others. The oak possessed a trunk large enough that garlands were wreathed around it and Dryads would gather to dance about the tree. Erisichthon did not observe the magnificent oak tree with the same wonder and ordered his servants to cut down the tree. The men hesitated at their master's command and Erisichthon grabbed the axe himself and declared he would cut the tree down, regardless of whether it was sacred to the Gods. He went on further to claim that if the very Goddess herself stood in his path, he would not hesitate to take the axe to her as well. The tree let out cries of pain, it shuddered and groaned when it was dealt the first blow. The spot on the tree he had wounded, bled with blood. His company were horrified by this sight. One of his servants intervened at their own peril and attempted to stop Erisichthon from chopping any further at the tree, to which his master turned the axe on him. He hacked away at the man's body and then cut off his head. A voice was heard from within the tree, it forewarned Erisichthon that punishment awaited him for having killed the nymph beloved to Ceres.
Even this did not deter the violent man, and he continued to issue repeated blows against the oak, until it fell and crashed a portion of the grove. The pride of the forest had been wounded, and the Dryads, distraught by the loss of the mighty oak, went as a group to Ceres, they dressed in mourning and told of what had transpired in the forest. Upon receiving the news, the Goddess determined to issue the most severest of punishments to Erisichthon. She called one of her Nymphs from the mountains, an Oread, and instructed that she go to the icy region of Scythia and seek out one of the four figures that lived there. Cold, Fear, Shuddering, and Famine all dwelt in the desolate lands. Famine was to be called and brought to take possession of the bowels of Erisichthon.
The Oread went to the sterile region aboard a chariot that flew in the air and was pulled by dragons, where it landed upon Mount Caucasus. The mountain Nymph found Famine in a field of stone. She was an emaciated female figure covered in dust, her pale skin was stretched tight over her bones, her face hollow with sunken in eyes, and her hair brittle and rough. The Oread did not approach the terrifying figure, and gave the commands of Ceres at a distance. The Nymph left as soon as she began to feel the pangs of hunger and drove the chariot back to Thessaly. Famine obeyed the commands of the Goddess and sought out Erisichthon. She came unannounced and entered the mans bed chamber as he slept. She crept up to him and wrapped the sleeping man in the embrace of her wings. She infused poison into his being through her breath as she breathed into him. After completing this task, she left the land of abundance and returned to her desolate region.
While he slept, Erisichthon felt the hunger that grew in him, even in his dreams, he thought of food and while asleep his mouth began to chew. He awoke with ravenous hunger. He ate everything in sight, and even when he devoured all the food of his home, he still desired more. And with more food that was brought to him, the more he craved. His hunger was like an unquenchable thirst, and a fire that needed to be continually stoked. His home and wealth fell into ruin due to his insatiable appetite. After spending everything he had in attempt to keep his hunger at bay, it still did not subside. All he had left now was his daughter. But like the magnificent oak in the forest, even she was not sacred, and he sold her to a slave purchaser. The daughter in her desperate state called out to Neptune from the edge of the seas and prayed to the Sea God that he might improve her situation.
Neptune heard her prayer and changed the girl into a fisherman. When the slave owner returned, he asked the fisherman where the maiden had disappeared to, and he told the inquiring man that he had been concentrating on his fishing line. The slave driver thought she had escaped and went away disappointed. Even when she returned home, her father did not feel any guilt in his ways and he sold her again to procure more money for his food. But like before, she was changed into a different form and managed to escape. And so this continued, where the father sold the daughter, and she would transform into a different animal each time and escape, a bird, an ox, a horse, and stag, and so on. But the lasting hunger of Erisichthon would never leave him, and he was driven completely mad where he devoured his own limbs and cannibalized himself, and met his end this way.
In the book Mythology by Edith Hamilton, the Dryads and the Hamadryads are spoken of a number of times:
"In contrast to these inhuman, ugly gods, the goddesses of the woodland were all lovely maiden forms, the Oreads, nymphs of the Mountain, and the Dryads, sometimes called Hamadryads, nymphs of trees, whose life was in each case bound up with that of her tree."
Drypoe
The tragic tale of Dryope tells of the irreversible mistake made by a maiden who did not observe wise conduct while in the forests. Drypoe went with her sister Iole to a pool in the woods with the intention to make garlands for the nymphs. She carried her child in her arms and she came upon a flowering lotus tree covered in many blossoms. To the enjoyment and delight of the child, she decided to pick many of them. But to her horror, after having plucked several of them, she notices that one of the stems was covered in blood. The tree was in fact the Nymph, Lotus, who had changed into this form to evade capture from her pursuer. Drypoe attempted to leave the lotus tree and wished to get out of the woods, but her feet were sealed to the earth. Bark had begun to grow up around her feet and legs and covered her entire body and sealed over her face, all the while her sister watched what was happening to her in helpless terror. Before she was fully transformed by the bark of the tree, she implored Iole to bring her son to play in the shade of her tree. She plead with her sister to never let her son pick flowers or fell the trees for fear there may be a Goddess hidden within.
In the work The Forest in Folklore and Mythology, by Alexander Porteous, references to Dryads and Nymphs of the forests can be found throughout the whole book.
"The most powerful of these mythical beings came in course of time to be worshiped as the principal gods, and there were many lower beings to whom a certain meed of reverence was paid, while to them was also attributed a human form. Among the latter were the Nymphs, and it was believed that to them was given the guardianship of the woods and of the trees. These Nymphs which we have particularly to deal with here were imagined by the Greeks as beautiful female forms. They were the Wood-Nymphs or Dryads, and a variety of them known as Tree-Nymphs or Hamadryads. There were also particular kinds of Tree-Nymphs who frequented fruit trees and watched over gardens. These were called Meliades, or Melian Nymphs, and they were also known as Flock-Nymphs, because they took flocks of sheep under their protection."
Porteous speaks of the superstition that surrounded the Dryads;
"Certain young and lovely Nymphs who dwelt in the forests and groves were known as Dryads, and they were the companions and attendants of the huntress goddess Artemis. It was considered unlucky to see the Dryads or to keep comany with them, and Ovid, in the Fourth Book of the Fastes, warned Pales 'Not to see the Dryads or Diana (Artemis) bathing, or Faunus, when wandering through the fields at midday."
Porteous continues with the beloved Nymph of Apollo;
"The God Apollo who had many loves among the Nymphs, of whom Drypoe was one. The Hamadryads had become very fond of her, and taught her to dance and sing. Apollo saw her when thus engaged, and conceived such a strong affection for her that she bore him a son called Amphissos, who when he grew up, erected a temple to his father. Dryope appeared at the temple one day, when the Hamadryads carried her away, causing a Poplar tree to spring up in her stead. The legend then tells how Amphissos, out of gratitude to the Nymphs for their goodness to his mother, erected a temple to them and instituted sports in their honour. At the latter, however, no woman was permitted to be present, because, as was said when Dryope was carried away, two maidens had told the people, upon which the angry Nymphs had turned them both into Fir trees."
Fiction:
In the fictional work by David Eddings, the second book in his fantasy book series The Belgariad, the characters of the Dryads are briefly introduced. They are presented as a tribe of small nature-lings that dwell deep in the woods, they are strictly female in their gatherings and while they know of humans many of them are largely ignorant of their purposes and affairs in the world save for their leader. They appear as young girls, but their green tinted skin distinguish them from being human. The fear fire, axes, and other destructive activity brought upon their forests by outsiders. When they encounter the character of the chosen one, the young boy Garion, they are curious about his coming but they seek to torture and kill him and make a play thing out of him as they have been taught to distrust humans. They almost succeed save for the interruption of the powerful sorcerer Belgarath, whom they love. And just as the race of halflings known as Hobbits crowd around the wizard Gandalf, and like the children who lovingly crowd around the messiah Jesus, "Let the children come unto me," the small child-like race of the female Dryads surround the sorcerer Belgarath and embrace him.
What are some other examples of Dryads that come to mind?
Where in contemporary culture have they made memorable appearances?