The myth of Cupid and Psyche

Brendan Pelsue
"Beauty is a curse," Psyche thought as she looked over the
cliff's edge where she'd been abandoned by her father. She'd
been born with the physical perfection so complete that she was
worshipped as a new incarnation of Venus, the goddess of love.
But real-life human lovers were too intimidated even to
approach her.
When her father asked for guidance from the Oracle of Apollo,
the god of light, reason, and prophecy. He was told to abandon
his daughter on a rocky crag where she would marry a cruel
and savage serpent-like winged evil. Alone on the crag, Psyche
felt Zephyr the West Wind gently lifting her into the air. It set
her down before a palace. "You are home," she heard an unseen
voice say. "Your husband awaits you in the bedroom, if you dare
to meet him." She was brave enough, Psyche told herself. The
bedroom was so dark that she couldn't see her husband. But he
didn't feel serpent-like at all. His skin was soft, and his voice
and manner were gentle. She asked him who he was, but he
told her this was the one question he could never answer. If she
loved him, she would not need to know.
His visits continued night after night. Before long, Psyche was
pregnant. She rejoiced, but was also conflicted. How could she
raise her baby with a man she'd never seen? That night, Psyche
approached her sleeping husband holding an oil lamp. What
she found was the god Cupid who sent gods and humans
lusting after each other with the pinpricks of his arrows.
Psyche dropped her lamp, burning Cupid with hot oil. He said
he'd been in love with Psyche ever since his jealous mother,
Venus, asked him to embarrass the young woman by pricking
her with an arrow. But taken with Psyche's beauty, Cupid used
the arrow on himself. He didn't believe, however, that gods and
humans could love as equals. Now that she knew his true form,
their hopes for happiness were dashed, so he flew away. Psyche
was left in despair until the unseen voice returned and told her
that it was indeed possible for her and Cupid to love each other
as equals.
Encouraged, she set out to find him. But Venus intercepted
Psyche and said she and Cupid could only wed if she completed
a series of impossible tasks. First, Psyche was told to sort a
huge, messy pile of seeds in a single night. Just as she was
abandoning hope, an ant colony took pity on her and helped
with the work.
Successfully passing the first trial, Psyche next had to bring
Venus the fleece of the golden sheep, who had a reputation for
disemboweling stray adventurers, but a river god showed her
how to collect the fleece the sheep had snagged on briars, and
she succeeded.
Finally, Psyche had to travel to the Underworld and convince
Proserpina, queen of the dead, to put a drop of her beauty in a
box for Venus. Once again, the unseen voice came to Psyche's
aide. It told her to bring barley cakes for Cerberus, the guard
dog to the Underworld and coins to pay the boatman, Charon to
ferry her across the river Styx.
With her third and final task complete, Psyche returned to the
land of the living. Just outside Venus's palace, she opened the
box of Proserpina's beauty, hoping to keep some for herself. But
the box was filled with sleep, not beauty, and Psyche collapsed
in the road. Cupid, now recovered from his wounds, flew to his
sleeping bride. He told her he'd been wrong and foolish. Her
fearlessness in the face of the unknown proved that she was
more than his equal.
Cupid gave Psyche amborsia, the nectar of the gods, making her
immortal. Shortly after, Psyche bore their daughter. They
named her Pleasure, and she, Cupid, and Psyche, whose name
means soul, have been complicating people's love lives ever
since.
Vocabulary
Beauty is a curse A beleza é uma maldição
cliff's penhasco
worshipped adorado
rocky crag penhasco rochoso
lifting elevação
rejoiced regozijou-se (alegrar-se)
lusting after cobiçando
pricking picada
dashed tracejadas
despair desespero
could only wed só poderia casar
seeds sementes
pity pena
fleece lã
disemboweling estripar
stray disperso
Underworld Submundo
aide auxiliar
barleycakes bolos de cevada
boatman barqueiro
ferry balsa
wounds ferimentos
foolish Insensato