Cupid and Psyche Part 1:
(Psyche and Cupid by Rubens: Wikimedia Commons)
A donkey (once Lucius) observes a young girl who was taken captive being brought to an encampment. An old woman tries to console her, but the girl misses the comforts of home and can't stop crying. In the middle of the night, she goes a bit crazy and starts to look for something to (presumably) kill herself with. The old woman gets mad and threatens the girl.
2. Her Dream:
The girl asks the woman to show her kindness and tells her that she was stolen away by the thieves on her wedding day, which she and the whole house were excited about. She talks about her dream in which her would-be husband is killed by the thieves. The old woman takes pity on the girl and says she'll tell her an old wives' tale.
3. Psyche's Beauty and the Anger of Venus:
The woman tells of a king and queen whose youngest daughter, Psyche, was said to be as beautiful as Venus herself. People came from all over just to see her and began to neglect visiting the actual shrines of Venus. Venus becomes angry at the attention the mortal is getting and summons her son Cupid. She leads him to the city, shows him Psyche, and explains her frustrations. Venus asks him to make Psyche fall in love with "the most wretched of men." She then goes back into the sea.
4. The Oracle of the Apollo:
While people loved Psyche's beauty, she found herself despising it. Because she was so unattainable she was not married and was left alone and depressed. Her father goes to pray to Apollo and is in return sent the message of a dark prophecy in which Psyche will be wed. He is told not to expect a child of hers to be born of a mortal, but of a winged, serpent-like creature. The "wedding" is held and the whole city grieves as if it were a funeral. Psyche has come to terms with her fate and goes to the mountain crag. She is left on the crag crying and scared, when a wind carries her down the mountain and softly lands her on a bed of flowers.
5. The Magical Palace:
Psyche falls asleep in the bed of flowers. Upon waking, she sees a beautiful, glowing palace fit for a god or demigod. As she approaches the house, a voice (claiming to be her servant) tells Psyche that the house is hers and she should take advantage of the bed and bath before taking part in a feast. She does just that. Food and drink magically appear and entertainment is provided by invisible musicians.
6. The Mysterious Husband:
While Psyche slept, her now husband got into bed with her and consummated their marriage. He left her before she was able to see him, but returned often to repeat his actions. One night, he tells her that her sisters think she is dead and will go to the cliff to look for her. He warns against looking at them. If she does, she'll upset him and bring "utter ruin" upon herself. But Psyche can't help herself from becoming depressed at the thought of her sisters being upset and about her luxurious imprisonment. Eventually, her husband agrees to allow her to see her sisters but warns her not to give in to their inquiries about his appearance. It amuses me that Psyche says even Cupid himself could not compare to her husband (Cupid).
7. The Jealousy of Psyche's Sisters:
Psyche meets her grieving sisters at the mountain crag. She takes the girls to the palace and lets them take advantage of it. They become deeply envious and question Psyche about her marriage and the owner of the house. Psyche lies about her husband's appearance and sends her sisters away with arms full of gold, but they have already gone crazy with envy. The sisters decide not to tell their parents that Psyche is alive and start devising a punishment for her.
8. Psyche's Husband Warns Her:
At first, Psyche's husband warns her once again against giving her sisters any information about his appearance. He tells her that if she does, their baby will be born mortal. Otherwise, it will be a divine child. When the sisters began to go after Psyche, her husband warns her again that they are dangerous and ready to attack her, and that for their sake and the sake of their baby, she shouldn't listen to them. Psyche becomes distraught and asks her husband once again to allow her to see her sisters. And again, he gives in.
9. Fears and Doubts:
The sisters return to the palace and greet Psyche with false affection and congratulations on her pregnancy. The ask more about Psyche's husband and are given another fake story and sent away with gifts. But this time, the sisters can tell she's lying. The next day they go back to the palace and remind Psyche of Apollo's oracle. They say her husband is a beast who will eventually devour her. Psyche is scared and forgets the promise she made. She admits that she has never seen him before and asks her sisters to save her. Psyche is told that she needs to kill her husband in order to escape him. Although she was torn between the love she felt for her husband and the fear she felt toward the beast he might be, that night Psyche prepared her weapon to kill him.
10. Psyche's Husband Revealed:
Psyche picked up the lamp and blade to strike her husband but when she did, she saw that he was actually Cupid. She examined him and his weapons. While holding an arrow, Psyche accidentally cut her thumb on the tip, which made her fall deeper in love with Cupid. As she held the lamp over him, a drop of hot oil fell from it and onto his shoulder and he was jolted awake. Psyche tried to stop Cupid from leaving but he managed to fly away. He talked about how foolish he was for going against his mother's words and trying to conceal his identity to make her believe that she had married a monster. In punishment, he left her.
11. Psyche's Despair:
Psyche met the god Pan while watching Cupid fly away. Pan tells her not to kill herself and instead to pray to Cupid. Afterwards, she walked until she ended up in her sister's husband's kingdom and asked to see her. Psyche tells her who her husband really is, and then lies and says he got mad and said he would marry her sister instead. The sister believed her. She lied to her husband by saying her parents died and then went to the mountain crag where she thought Zephyr would catch her when she walked off the edge. But he didn't and she died. Psyche then told the same story to her other sister, who met the same fate.
12. Venus and the Goddesses:
A bird tells Venus about Cupid's relationship with Psyche. Venus finds Cupid in pain and shouts at him about his disobedience. When she leaves, she asks Juno and Ceres to find Psyche for her. They hesitate, saying they don't see a reason to punish Cupid for being a boy in love. Venus is upset and leaves.
13. Psyche's Prayer:
Psyche goes to a shrine on the top of a hill looking for Cupid. She goes about the temple rituals and Ceres appears. Psyche begs for permission to stay in the temple to hide from Venus, but Ceres refuses even though she feels bad for her. She then finds another temple belonging to Juno and asks the same. But again, she is refused.
14. Venus and Mercury:
Psyche thinks it's better to give in to Venus and go to her palace. Venus finds Mercury and asks him to put a bounty out for finding Psyche. He goes around the heavens putting the word out, telling everyone that if they can tell them where Psyche is they'll get seven of Venus' kisses and a touch from her tongue. This pushed Psyche to go to the palace herself.
15. Venus and Psyche:
Psyche is dragged inside by Familiarity. Venus has Psyche flogged and otherwise tortured by Anxiety and Sorrow. After beating her again, Venus puts Psyche to the test of having her sort out various grains, seeds, and beans from one big pile. Ants helped her sort it.
16. Psyche's Task:
Venus sees that the task has been completed but says it wasn't Psyche's doing and leaves her. Elsewhere, Cupid is locked away in a room to keep him from hurting himself/seeing Psyche. Next, Psyche is given the task to get wool from a sheep. To do so, Psyche throws herself from a cliff into a river. A reed tells her to wait until it gets dark to get the wool. Again upset that Psyche's task was completed, Venus gives her a third test of getting water from a mountain peak and bringing it back to her.
17. The Third Task
Psyche is having trouble completing the third task and seems to give up hope. An eagle who had once helped Cupid sees her and comes to her aid. The eagle takes the phial that Psyche is to fill with the Stygian water and fills it for her.
18. The Jar of Beauty:
Venus is still not satisfied so she tells Psyche to go to Proserpine in the underworld to fill a jar with her beauty. Psyche thinks the task impossible and goes to a mountain cliff to throw herself off, but the turret tells her not to. It gives her instructions to find help in a nearby town. When Psyche returns from the underworld, she is overwhelmed with curiosity about the jar of beauty and is tempted to try it, despite the turret's warning.
19. The Sleep of the Dead:
Psyche looks in the jar but it doesn't hold beauty. Instead, it puts her into a deep sleep. Cupid jumps out of the window of his room to find Psyche and wakes her up. He sends her to give Venus the jar. Cupid goes to Jupiter and asks for help. Jupiter agrees as long as Cupid will find him a beautiful woman.
20a. The Wedding Feast:
Jupiter calls the other deities together and asks them to let Cupid be with Psyche. Psyche is given a cup of ambrosia to make her become immortal and be with Cupid forever. A feast is held and everyone is happy. Eventually, Psyche gives birth to a daughter and they name her Pleasure.
20b. Lucius and the Robbers
The narrator switches from the old woman back to Lucius, who is loaded up with stolen goods and made to move along. Because he wasn't given much rest, Lucius ends up tripping and hurting his leg. The thieves talk about killing him.
21. The Escape
Lucius is afraid of being killed and decides to escape. The old woman tries to stop him but he manages to kick her. The captive girl hears the woman's cries for help and quickly gets on Lucius' back. While they escape she tells him how well he will be treated if he takes her back home. The story ends with them ending up at the fork in the road.
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