Cupids Crisis

The Tale of Eros And Psyche

Once upon a time, there once lived a prosperous king, he had three fair daughters, however the youngest, Psyche, was the most beautiful of them all. Psyche looked as though she was a goddess among the mere mortals that were around her. The news of Psyche's beauty had spread throughout the kingdom and many men would come to her palace to admire and worship her. Many people would praise Psyche, they used to say that not even Aphrodite herself could compete with the beauty of Psyche. However, the more people admired Psyche, the less people would remember the Goddess of Love and Beauty, Aphrodite. The temples of Aphrodite were abandoned; the Goddess could not accept such a situation and required the help of her son, Eros. Aphrodite told Eros in distress, 'Use your power to make this mortal girl fall in love with the vilest and most despicable creature who has ever walked on the Earth'. Eros agreed to do so, however, when Eros saw Psyche, he felt as though he had been pierced by one of his arrows; he could not make that charming maiden fall in love with a vile creature, so he had decided not to tell his mother and spared the girls life.

Psyche was slowly starting to dislike the attention she was receiving, men would only admire her and then pass by and get married to another girl. Her two sisters had been wedded to kings and this made Psyche fear that no one would marry her, however it not only worried Psyche, but it also worried her father. The king took his daughter to the Oracle of Delphi to ask Apollo how to wed Psyche; the prophecy of the god was severe. Apollo decreed that Psyche, dressed in a black dress, should be brought to the summit of a mountain and stay until her husband came to her. The husband that was fated for her, a winged serpent, powerful than the gods themselves, would come up to take her for his wife. Psyche and her family were in despair, she was ready for the mountain as if she were to face her death, her family brought Psyche as if they were bringing her to her tomb. Leaving Psyche on the mountain, everyone left and locked themselves in the palace to mourn her for the rest of their days.

Psyche awaited the arrival of her husband while shaking and crying in the night. Eros saw this and asked Zephyr the God of West Wind to carry Psyche and bring her to Eros' castle. Psyche later woke up to the sound of a clear stream and when she opened her eyes she faced the magnificent castle, it seemed as though it belonged to a God, with gold pillars, silver walls and precious stones. Psyche admired the house, but only entered the house when she heard a voice, 'This castle is for you. Come in. Do not be afraid. Take a bath and we shall honour you with a great dinner.' Never had Psyche taken such a refreshing bath or tasted such delicious dishes with soft music around her. The whole day she was alone, accompanied by the voices, but during the night her husband would come to her and whisper sweetly in her ear and all her fears disappeared about her husband being a monster, but a loving husband she had always wished for. Her husband, Eros, only asked of one thing, that Psyche was to never to see his face or try to discover who her husband was.

The following days passed with joy, Psyche had never been happier in her life, however she felt sadness that she could not see her husband, moreover she was left alone all day. Psyche had begun to miss her family, they must have been mourning her, but she was alive and happy. That night, Psyche asked her husband to grant her a wish, Psyche wanted her sisters to visit her in the castle to ensure her safety. At first, her husband refused, but seeing that this saddened Psyche, he agreed. However, her husband gave a warning, 'Do not let them influence you, if they do, you will destroy our relationship and suffer a lot. The next day Psyches' sisters arrived and they all cried in happiness, however her sisters were envious of Psyches' magnificent treasures and beautiful palace. The sisters began asking who Psyche's husband was. She said that he was a young hunter, but the sister did not believe her and thought 'Could a simple hunter be so rich?'. Out of jealousy Psyche's evil sisters told Psyche that, 'Your husband must be the vile creature that was fated for you at the Oracle of Delphi and that is why you are not allowed to see your husband; because if you saw him, you would disgust his sight and leave him forever. Oh Psyche, how can you peacefully sleep next to such a creature?'

From then on, Psyche could think of nothing else but these words. Her sisters must be right. Why doesn't he come to me in the day? Why doesn't he allow me to see him? What is his secret? These thoughts were agitating Psyche for many days; he must be hiding something horrible and that is why he does not want to be seen in the day. Psyche made a plan, in the night, when her husband falls asleep, she would light a candle and see him, if it was a snake, she would kill him, if not she will happily go to sleep. Psyche had made her decision, forgetting about Eros' warning. At night, she did as she had planned and saw the most beautiful man. Ashamed by her madness, Psyche kneeled and thanked the Gods, but while doing so, a drop of oil fell from the candle, falling onto her husband. Eros woke up in pain and saw the light, seeing how Psyche had not trusted him, he left the bedroom in silence. Psyche ran after her husband to apologise but heard her husband's heartbroken voice, 'Love cannot live without trust', and with that Eros flew into the dark night. It was then Psyche realised that her husband was the God of Love she thought about how mad she must have been to not trust her husband, the God of Love. Psyche cried for days and days, she then decided that she would do anything to gain her husband back.

Without knowing what else to do, Psyche made her way to the temple of Aphrodite and prayed to the Goddess; she asked Aphrodite to speak to her son. Aphrodite, driven by jealousy, was vengeful, she told the mortal girl that in order for her to get Eros back she must go through three tasks to prove her love for him, if she failed even one, Eros would never go back to her. During the three tasks Aphrodite would not let Eros leave his room, while she mourned for Psyche's betrayal. Psyche agreed.

The first task: Aphrodite led Psyche on a hill and showed her a dune of different small seeds of wheat, poppies, millets and many others. Aphrodite said, 'I want you to separate these seeds by afternoon, if not, I will never let you see Eros again'. Psyche thought of this task as cruel, but even so, tried to do it. That moment, a group of ants were passing by and saw Psyche in despair, 'Come, feel mercy for this poor girl and let us help her' they said to one another, and so they started to work together.

From the big original dune, they formed several smaller dunes. Psyche had drifted into slumber throughout the task and Aphrodite saw this and became angry, 'You have not finished your work properly' she said and ordered Psyche to sleep on the ground, without giving her food or water.

The second task: The next morning, Aphrodite gave Psyche a dangerous task. 'Can you see those black waters descending from that hill? That is River Estige, awful and abhorrent. Fill this bottle with River Estiges water'. Psyche made her way to the river, but found it difficult, the rocks were slippery and steep; the water crashed through such abrupt rocks that only a winged creature could do this task. At that moment, an eagle flew from above and saw Psyche and felt sympathy for her. It seized the bottle from Psyche's hands with its beak, filled it with some black water and returned the bottle to Psyche. When Psyche returned, the task completed, Aphrodite gave a cold smile and said, 'Someone helped you, otherwise you would not have been able to do this task alone. I am going to give you one final chance to prove your love for Eros.

The third task: Aphrodite gave a box to Psyche and asked her to take it to the Underworld and ask Persephone, Queen of the Dead, to drain a little of her beauty into the box. Psyche did so, she took the path leading to Hades. When Psyche entered the gates, she took a boat to the other side of the bank, where the dead people lived. She gave handfuls of money to the boatman to help her find her way in the dark to the palace of Persephone.

Upon Psyche's arrival at the palace, she asked Persephone to drain a drop of her beauty and Persephone did so, glad to be able to serve Psyche. Psyche took the box and returned happily to Earth.

But when she gave the box to Aphrodite, the goddess got angry, blaming Psyche for using some of the drops instead of giving all of the drops to Aphrodite. Psyche tried to prove her innocence, but Aphrodite had already vowed to give Psyche the worst punishment of all. Leaving Eros in pain; providing Psyche with injustice, and tearing apart the world they made together.