Since divine honors were being diverted in an excessive way to the worship of a mortal maiden, it fiercely kindled the wrath of the true Venus. In a fit of anger, she could not control herself and tossed her head back with a deep growl like a lioness.
"Here am I, the ancient mother of the universe," she seethed, "the founding creator of the elements, the goddess that tends the entire world! Yet I am compelled to share the glory of my beauty with a mortal!"
She paced her chamber of pearl and ivory with a look of irritation. Even the nectar in her golden cup tasted bitter in her mouth. Venus would not rest until she had done something terrible.
"My name which is highly respected in heaven is now degraded by the foulness of the earthling below."
She wouldn't share her majesty and divine power with a lowly human, allowing a girl to strut around posing as her double. This girl, whoever she was, was not going to enjoy the same honors that were hers.
"I will teach that silly maiden a lesson," she decided. "How dare she go about pretending to be as beautiful as I? When I get through with her she will wish she'd been born ugly as a toad!"
Venus at once summoned her daughter Cupid, that winged, most beautiful youth, who went rampaging through people's houses at night armed with her torch and arrows. The goddess undermined the marriages of all and always got away with her deeds for she was almost always invisible.
Cupid arrived at her mother's palace, still fluttering her enormous wings after a long day of shooting her beloved arrows. Her work was her entertainment.
She found Venus sitting poised in her garden. The fountains of laughing water and sweetly scented blooms didn't seem to enliven her mother's mood as they always did. Floating down and landed by the padded recliner, she went to Venus, who welcomed her into her lovely white arms.
"Mother, why do you seem so sad today?"
"Daughter, your mother has been insulted," Venus said to her. "See that castle down there?"
She pointed to the water of the fish pond. The clear surface rippled and the reflection changed, showing a city, a palace and then a chamber. In the bower there, a maiden lay asleep.
"I beg you by the bond of a mother's love, by the sweet wounds which your darts inflict and the honeyed blisters left by this torch of yours, please, ensure you go pierce her with one of your arrows."
"While she is asleep, mother? What good will it do?" Cupid said.
"No good at all, my dear, nothing but evil, which is exactly what I plan for her," Venus said with a wicked gleam in her eyes.
After showing Psyche in the flesh to her daughter, Venus began to tell the whole story of their rivalry, and grumbling and growling with displeasure. Cupid couldn't see Psyche's face clearly, but she knew by the perfect slender form of her body and how her mother had reacted that the girl must be extremely beautiful.
"Be sure that your mother gets her full revenge, and punish harshly this mortal girl and her arrogance," Venus said. "Be willing to perform this single service for me, my girl. See that Psyche is possessed by consuming passion."
"But she can fall in love only with the one she is looking at when my arrows pierce her. Why bother when she is asleep?" Cupid asked her mother innocently.
"Because if you scratch her with the arrow while she sleeps, she will form a passion for the first one she sees when she awakes. And I will take care to supply her with someone very special. The lowest possible specimen of humanity, for one who has lost status, a man so disreputable that nowhere in the world can he find an equal in wretchedness."
Cupid frowned. She was always delighted to perform her task, but she had never been asked to do such a vile deed.
"This is a cruel trick, Mother." She looked back at Venus, but the older goddess's eyes only focused on the water of the pond, which showed her new victim. Her gaze shone with vengeance and hatred.
"Yes, it's meant to be cruel. I tell you the girl has irritated my heart. Now, will you go and do your work for me?"
With these words, Venus kissed her daughter long and sweetly with parted lips until Cupid acquiesced to the plan.
Cupid picked up her bow again and flew off Olympus towards the shore lapped by waves.
That night, the winged goddess flew towards Psyche's palace. She made herself invisible and went through the window of her chamber. The goddess stood looking at the canopied bed where a brilliant form lay.
Cupid walked towards the sleeping maiden and parted the sheer curtains. From a mortal eye, it would seem as if the wind had flicked them apart.
"She is very beautiful," the goddess gasped in astonishment. "Too beautiful for her own safety, poor girl."
She leaned over her, holding her dart so as to delicately scratch her fair shoulder. But then Psyche turned her face around and opened her eyes. She gazed pierced into hers, though she could not see the goddess. And those huge brilliant eyes and beautiful face startled Cupid and the dart slipped, scratching her own hand. The goddess stood there feeling the sweet poison spread in her veins, confused, growing dizzy with joy and lust and strangeness.
Cupid had spread love, but never felt it, shot others, but never been wounded by her own arrows. And she did not know her heart could be this way. Psyche closed her eyes and went to sleep again. Cupid stood still looking at her. Suddenly, Psyche had become the most wonderful, the most precious, the most valuable thing in the world to her.
And the goddess knew that she would never let the maiden come to any harm if she could prevent it. Cupid thrust her dart back into her quiver and flew away to Olympus.
Meanwhile, the King had returned to his kingdom and unfolded the prophecy of that ominous oracle to his wife. They held each other and wept in grief and lamentation for several hours. But they knew the warnings of heaven shall come to pass, and they must obey.
The grim prediction of the dread oracle Delphi from Apollo, the god of prophecy, loomed over them, urging them to prepare the marriage for their ill-fated daughter with a winged monster, and Psyche's presence was demanded to meet her appointed punishment.
Cupid did not tell her mother about her failure, and now she was trying to save the maiden of her poisoned heart in secret.The King and Queen were advised by the oracle to prepare a wedding and say farewell, or else the force of evil shall devour their kingdom. So amidst intense grief, they called upon their youngest daughter."My girl, we're in terrible grief," the King said. "It is said by the oracle that you're not meant for a mortal man. You're to be the bride of one who lives on the mountain, and we must bring you there, or else calamity shall strike land."Psyche listened to their mournful words and understood. She went to her sad parents and held them with sympathy."Don't beat those breasts so sacred to me," she said in tears
A torch burned in the air and floated in front of her. Three more torches whirled in to lead the way. Psyche followed the invisible handmaidens, and they walked her through a great hallway into a bath chamber.The chamber hosted an indoor pool, full of fragrant warm water. It was surrounded by golden pillars supporting the vaulted roof.Then the mortal princess felt gentle hands on her body. They began to untie her wedding dress. Other handmaidens tied back her flowing golden hair. Once she was naked, Psyche could hear a soft chorus of gasps. Her beauty astounded even those celestial beings.Standing in all her bare glory, Psyche felt her face redden, but as she could not see anyone, the embarrassment wasn't so bad. The princess stepped into the streaming waters of the sunken bath. She
Cupid had swiftly departed before dawn broke. After she made Psyche her wife on their marriage bed, the goddess knew she must not remain with the princess any longer, or her mother would grow suspicious.When Psyche awoke the next morning, she was alone. Her lips still tingled with kisses and below her belly, she could feel all sorts of pleasure lingering there. The princess remembered the sweet ecstasy that seized her whole being and a swoon of happiness darkened her mind. A blush crept onto her cheeks. Was she now a woman and no more a virgin?Indeed her wedding night was truly magical, but she wondered who had come and made love to her. Her eyes had sought in vain for her betrothed, but during those hours of passion and heat, all her senses scattered like leaves in the wind.The pri
Psyche awoke from her sleep and found herself alone in her bed as always. She got out of her chamber and took her fragrant bath. Afterward, she seated by herself in the adjoining alcove where the meal was set ready for her.The table was laden with excessive repast fit for the gods themselves, whole wheat bread out of the oven, topped with fortifying sesame paste and thick golden honey, layered pasta filled with goat cheese and savory meat with olive oil, and sliced Macedonian ham on a bed of chopped lettuce and baked tomatoes along with a jug of the creamiest milk. There was also a huge bowl of grapes and figs and freshly picked berries from the groves of Argos, and mountain tea from Crete.But this time, Psyche couldn't seem to find her appetite. She began her first meal of the day in silence. As her head was preoccupied with so many
Day after day went by in the same fashion, and night after night. Psyche lived her solitude life as she went singing and dancing from room to room, entertaining herself. The great pile of stone was filled with the sound of her lovely voice. At the end of the day, the mortal maiden returned to her chamber. Her meal was served by the same invisible attendants. She again bathed and anointed herself with perfume, waiting for her beloved partner. When the night was well advanced, a genial sound met her ears. Cupid had come to make love to her, and the maiden embraced the goddess with longing arms. Psyche began to enjoy herself and her enigmatic lover with more excitement. This life in the course of nature became delightful to Psyche as she grew accustomed to it. Hearing that soothing gol
Psyche showed her sisters all sorts of magnificent riches and made sure they enjoy their luxurious stay.But when they started mentioning the whereabouts and the identity of her partner, she invented an impromptu story that her lover was a handsome young man whose cheeks were still smooth without a beard and chest still soft but warm with a love for her.Although Psyche's heart was rejoiced to see her sisters again, she did not in any way disregard her lover's warning. She was anxious as she tried not to betray through a slip of the tongue, so she weighed her sisters down with gold and precious jewels. She then hastily summoned Zephyrus and entrusted them to him for the return journey.This was carried out at once, and those sisters then made their way home safely. They were now gnawed
Psyche woke to the break of day and eagerly awaited her beloved sisters. Her happiness was overflowing, seeping through her every pore, making her face radiant even more.As previously done, Zephyrus recalled his queen's command, and somewhat unwillingly enfolded the two older sisters in the bosom of his breeze. Then he set them down on the brilliant garden.Without hesitation, the sisters at once marched with measured steps into the grandiose palace and embraced their prey.They cloaked their deeply hidden trickery with joyful expressions and flattered their youngest sister with warm words.Psyche was clueless about their evil intention and invited the two women inside. As soon as they had rested their feet to recover the weariness o
Psyche was now alone with her thoughts. The solitude tossed in her grief like the waves of the sea. She lost her head and began to banish all her spouse's warnings and her own promises. After all, her sisters had made some solid stabs. It was true that she had never seen her lover's face, and she had no knowledge whatsoever of what her companion was. She merely heard the voice and was constantly warned against seeing what the owner of it looks like, and threatened with great disaster if she showed curiosity. What if her sisters' warning was genuine?But the only way to know it was to see. And as dusk began to fill the sky, Psyche got up and poured the oil into a well-trimmed wick. Then she concealed it beneath the cover of an enclosing jar. Though her plan was formed and her determination fixed, she still faltered in the uncertainty of purpose. Her heart was torn between many impulses of her unhappy plight.Then the grief-stricken maiden waited for her love to enter th