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AND ADVENTURE
Cupid
and
Psyche
CUPID AND PSYCHE
It is a story originally from Metamorphoses (also called The Golden Ass), written in the 2nd century AD by Lucius Apuleius
Madaurensis (or Platonicus). It concerns the overcoming of obstacles to the love between Psyche (Greek: "Soul" or "Breath of Life")
and Cupid (Latin Cupido, "Desire") or Amor ("Love", Greek Eros ), and their ultimate union in a sacred marriage.
There was once a
king who had three
lovely daughters,
but the youngest
,Psyche, excelled
her sisters so
greatly that she
seemed a goddess.
Men
journeyed
to gaze
upon her
with
wonder and
adoration.
They
would
even say
that
Venus
herself
could not
As they thronged to worship
her loveliness no one any more
gave thought to Venus herself.
Her temple was neglected :her
altars foul with cold ashes.
So she turned to
her son, that
beautiful winged
youth whom she
called Cupid or
others Love, whose
arrows there is no
defense , neither
on heaven nor on
the Earth.
As he looked
upon her it was
as he had shot
one of his
arrows into his
own heart. He
was deeply in
love with her.
Men were content to look and
wonder and worship- and then
pass on to marry someone else.
This was, of course, most
disturbing to her parents. So her
father traveled to an oracle of
Apollo whom Cupid asked for
help.
According to Apollo that Psyche,
dressed in deepest mourning, must be
dressed on the summit of a rocky hill
and left alone, and that there her
destined husband , a fearful winged
serpent, stronger than the gods
themselves, would came to her and
make her his wife.
Her father brought
back the lamentable
news. They dressed
the maiden as
though for her death
and carried her to
the hill with greater
sorrow than if it had
been to her tomb.
On the hilltop in the
darkness Psyche sat,
waiting for she knew not
what terror, there, as she
wept and trembled, a soft
air came through the
stillness to her, the
gentle breathing of
Zephyr, sweetest and
mildest of winds.
She woke beside a
bright river, with a
mansion on its bank
stately and
beautiful as though
built for a god, with
pillars of gold and
walls of silver and
floors inlaid with
precious stones.
Every night ,
her husband
came. In the
morning, he
left before she
woke up. She
havent seen
him but was in
She showed
her sister the
presents she
received from
Cupid and
jealousy
arouse.
They advised her
to keep a lamp and
a knife beneath
their bed and look
at her husband
one night. So she
did what they told
and discovered
that her husband
is not monster nor
a beast but a
beautiful creature.
When she saw
him, she was
unable to deny
herself the bliss
of filling her eyes
with his beauty,
some hot oil fell
from the lamp
She faced Venus and did
everything she was told. She
sorted out a huge pile of seeds,
retrieved the golden fleece,
filled a flask from the water that
fills the river Styx.
The last trial
Venus imposes
on Psyche is a
quest to the
underworld
itself. She is to
take a box and
obtain in it a
dose of the
Everything was supposed to be
done without any harm but her
curiosity brought her to such
destiny. She opened the box,
hoping that she could use some
so that shell be pretty once she
suddenly met Cupid but she saw
nothing. It seemed empty and
instead of getting pretty, she
suddenly fell into a heavy sleep.
The God of Love
stepped out and saw
Psyche lying almost
beside the palace. He
wiped the sleep from
her eyes and put it
back into the box.
Then waking her
with just a prick from
one of his arrows.
While the joyful Psyche
hastened on her errand,
the god flew up to
Olympus. He wanted to
make sure that Venus
would give them no more
trouble, so he went
straight to Jupiter
himself.
Then Zeus called a full
assembly of the gods, and
announced to all, including
Venus, that Cupid and
Psyche were formally
married, and that he
proposed to bestow
immortality upon the bride.
The wedding banquet of Cupid and Psyche
So all came to a
most happy end.
Love and Soul
( for that is what
Psyche means)
had sought, and
after sore trials
found each
other; and that
union could
never be broken.