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Pan
Pan, god of woods, fields, and fertility, was the son of Hermes, messenger of the gods,
and a nymph. Part animal, with the horns, hoofs, and ears of a goat, he was a
rollicking deity, the god of the shepherds and the goatherds. A wonderful musician,
he accompanied, with his pipe of reeds, the woodland nymphs when they danced. He
invented this pipe when the nymph Syrinx, whom he was pursuing, was transformed
into a bed of reeds to escape him; Pan then took reeds of unequal length and played
on them. The god was always wooing one of the nymphs by playing on his pipes, but
was always rejected because of his ugliness. Pan's haunts were the mountains and
caves and all wild places, but his favorite spot was Arcady, where he was born.
The word panic is supposed to have been derived from the fears of travelers who
heard the sound of his pipes at night in the wilderness.