The Story of Cupid and Psyche

In Ancient Greece, there was a royal family which had three beautiful
princesses. The most beautiful princess was Psyche. The people loved
the princess. In fact, the people loved Psyche so much that they
forget about the gods and goddesses when they said their prayers.
They abandoned the temples of Venus, the goddess of beauty. Her
altars were covered empty and the sculptors would make no more
statues of her. The fame of Psyche’s beauty spread throughout the
kingdom and men kept coming to her palace to admire and worship
her. When they saw her, they said that she was even more beautiful
than Venus.

Venus, who lived with the other gods on Mount Olympus, was
enraged. She felt so jealous! When she heard men say that
Psyche, was more beautiful than her, she lost her temper and
promised herself: “I will kill this horrible little human!”

One day, however, terrible things happened. Venus was waiting

for her son to return. She guessed that he had fallen in love
with Psyche. She got even more enraged and sent another
vision to Psyche’s family. When her mother, father and sisters
saw the vision, they panicked and rushed to the dark palace.
“Psyche, Psyche! You must come back with us”, they said. “This
dark palace is terrible and the person you love… is a monster.”
 Psyche’s family thought it would be wonderful for their human
daughter to marry a god, so they told her about the vision they had
seen and gave her instructions. “Go towards Mount Olympus. Enter a
dark palace with no light.” Psyche obeyed and went to the dark
palace. Inside, there were no lamps and no ray of light entered
through the windows, which were covered with thick curtains. It was
dangerous and dark, but Psyche was excited, because she expected
to meet her true love. She was enjoying this unusual experience; she
was hoping to feel great joy when she met her true love.

Venus was a goddess, so she could watch what humans were doing
from the top of Mount Olympus. She was pleased that her plan was
working. “Ha ha! What a stupid human!” she said. Venus turned to her
son, who was called Cupid. “My son, go down from Mount Olympus.
Go to this princess, Psyche. People say she is so beautiful and they do
not pay attention to me. Go and kill this human.” Cupid had no choice
but to obey his mother’s order.

Cupid was handsome and he was romantic like his mother, Venus. When he
saw Psyche, he gasped. She was the most beautiful princess he had ever
seen and he immediately fell deeply in love with her. Cupid felt that one of
his own arrows had hit his heart. Psyche, though, did not see Cupid
because he was invisible in the dark.

“Beautiful princess, sleep and relax,” whispered Cupid softly to her. Psyche
obeyed. She was so curious about him and asked, “Can I see you?”
“No, you cannot see me”, replied Cupid. “If you see me, I will have to return
to Mount Olympus. You must trust me. Love cannot last without trust. I
want to be with you. I glanced at you for just a split second and
immediately I fell in love with you. I couldn’t help it. Be my princess, be my
true love forever!” What Cupid said was beautiful and romantic. Psyche
remained silent but she knew that she had fallen in love with Cupid, too.
 Psyche cried bitter tears when she realized that she had betrayed her true love. But
she couldn’t accept being separated from him. She loved Cupid so much that she
decided to go up Mount Olympus. Of course, she knew that Venus wanted to kill
her, but she could not bear living without her true love. “I may die, but I have to see
him again,” she told herself.

And so, Psyche climbed the great mountain alone. When she got to the top, Venus
was waiting for her. “Venus, I want to see Cupid. You can kill me, but you cannot kill
our love,” said Psyche calmly.

“Ha ha, you are a stupid creature! Cupid is my son. He is a god. You are just a
human. Do you want to become a god? Do you want to be as beautiful as me? That
is impossible!” Venus’s jealousy knew no limit. Venus made Psyche pick up a magic
box. When Psyche opened the box, she closed her eyes and fell fast asleep. “Ha ha,
Psyche will sleep forever! Now I am the most beautiful!” boasted Venus.

Cupid was watching and when he saw Psyche arrive, his heart jumped. He
immediately forgave her for shining the light on him. Knowing that she was
in terrible danger, he flew as fast as he could to Zeus. “Oh Zeus, king of all
the gods! My true love has fallen asleep forever. I beg of you, please help
me!”

Zeus admired Cupid’s romantic heart. “Well, I would like to help you. I will
visit Venus. There must be a way to satisfy everyone.”

Soon Zeus was standing in front of the goddess of beauty. “Venus, your son
loves Psyche. If you love your son, you cannot torture him like this. You
must let them be together. I have a plan.” Zeus forced Venus to go along
with his plan. Zeus helped Venus to make Psyche immortal. Now, Psyche
was a goddess, too. Psyche and Cupid were married in front of all the gods
and they could stay on Mount Olympus forever.
 In the end, love triumphed. Cupid
and Psyche were blissfully happy
forever. Venus loved her son, and
because he was happy with Psyche,
Venus had to accept her. And
something made Venus very happy
indeed. Now Psyche was living with
the gods on Mount Olympus, so the
humans below forgot all about the
beautiful princess and started
worshiping her, the goddess of
beauty, again. The sculptors started
making new statues of her, and the
temple altars were now covered with
offerings.

The End
Dhale Andrei M. Esguerra
G10 - Centaurus