Brewer's: Alpheos and Arethusa

The Greek fable says that Alpheos, the river-god, fell in love with the nymph Arethusa, who fled from him in affright. The god pursued under the sea, but the nymph was changed into a spring, which comes up in the harbour of Syracuse.

“We have seen a moustachioed Alpheos, at Ramsgate, pursue an affrighted Arethusa.” —London Review.

Source: Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, E. Cobham Brewer, 1894
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