CHARACTERS:
Cupid – He is the son of Venus and is also called Love. He is the god of love who fell in love with a mortal named Psyche. He was also the “winged serpent†being referred to by the oracle of Apollo.
Psyche – The most beautiful maiden among the three daughters of the king and the queen and was thought to be married to a terrible winged serpent.
Venus – She is a goddess and the mother of Cupid. She became jealous and envious with Psyche since all the attention that was once centered to her was drawn unintentionally and unconsciously by Psyche.
Apollo’s oracle – He was the one to say to the father of Psyche that her daughter is destined to marry a winged serpent (which was actually Cupid). He was the one that connived with Cupid to make sure that Psyche end up being at the side of him.
Zephyr – The sweetest and mildest of the winds.
Psyche’s Sisters – They were jealous about the fortune that Psyche has gained for herself and have plotted to ruin everything for Psyche.
The Ants – They are the ones to help Psyche with the task to separate the grains from one another.
The Green Reed – This was the one to advise Psyche to wait until dark to be able to collect golden wool hanging on the sheep briars.
The Eagle – This was the one to help Psyche fill the flask with the black water.
SHORT SUMMARY:
There once lived a king and a queen that was blessed to have three lovely maidens. Of the three, Psyche outshined them all in terms of beauty. People say that even goddesses cannot compare to her beauty. Men were very much struck in awe with this sight and thus adored the lady so much that they have forgotten about Venus. The problem is that no man seemed to like to marry Psyche. Her sisters and parents were very much worried about this and her father made a desperate move. He went to ask on ways on how to find the perfect man for her daughter but terrible reply was given to him by the oracle. The oracle said that her daughter is destined to marry a terrible creature- a winged serpent. With this, the whole family lamented as if Psyche was dead already. But the lady kept her courage and followed the instructions to be left in the topmost hill alone until her destined husband comes and get her.
At the hill, she waited for her doom to arrive but no serpent arrived. Because of Zephyr, the sweetest and mildest of the winds, she had a very good feeling and she fell asleep. Upon waking up, she was beside a river and there she saw a mansion with pillars of gold and has very astounding beauty. It seems like it was created for a god. To here surprise, there was no one in there and that made her to be hesitant in entering. But their were voices telling her that she should not be afraid because the house is for her and she must enter in it and simply feel at home. Throughout the day, the only companion Psyche had were the voices she hears. No husband or lover showed in there but she was sure that when night comes, her husband would be with her. True enough because with the night coming, she felt that her husband was near him and that she could feel for his presence. This relationship continued for days. Psyche never had the chance to see her husband, yet.
One day, Psyche’s husband warned her about the coming of her sisters at the hill she was left and there they would cry their sorrows for their beloved sister. He said that no matter what, she should not see them or something terrible would happen. But the desire to see her sisters has driven Psyche to yell to her husband that she really wants to see them. Her husband ended up to let it be. That day came and her two sisters were able to visit the house of Psyche by the help of Zephyr. There they saw their sister and the rest was history. It was a perfect reunion however, because of the seen fortune of Psyche; her two sisters were raging with jealousy and envy and have plotted a plan to ruin everything for Psyche and her husband. Psyche’s sisters were able to visit her again even if this was not agreed by her husband. Her sisters used reversed psychology on her and were able to find out that she never saw husband at all. They at last made her admit that they were right and they have asked them for their advice. They advised her to have a lamp and a knife beside her when night comes and when her husband was sound asleep, she should lit the lamp to see him and plunge him with the knife and then go with them. After all the confusions, Psyche still end up following this advice and there, when night came, to her surprise, she saw that her husband was no monster. He was the god of love, Cupid. To great shame, with her shaking hands, she attempted to end her life with the knife but the knife fell. Hot oil spilled from the lamp and flowed on the shoulders of Cupid that was sleeping. He woke up and found out of the faithlessness of his husband and fled away from her.
Psyche was left with great shame for what have happened but have decided to look for her husband and not give up no matter what. She then ended up being the servant of Venus, the mother of Cupid. Venus did all that she can in order to make it hard for Psyche but as always, when the going goes hard, help always comes to her rescue. She has given hard tasks to Psyche such as separate grains that are mixed in limited time only, collect golden wool from sheep, fill a flask with black water from a mountain that only winged creature can actually do and go to the underworld to meet Proserpine. In the end, after healing his wounds, Cupid decided to look for her husband and found her sleeping in the middle of the last task that was given by Venus. The two were married and Psyche was made immortal by the gods and they lived happily ever after.
