Reading Notes: Cupid and Psyche, Part B

 Bibliography: 

Story source: Apuleius's Golden Ass, as translated into English by Tony Kline (2013).

http://mythfolklore.blogspot.com/2014/05/myth-folklore-unit-apuleiuss-cupid-and.html

Venus goes off on Cupid and threatens to make on of her ‘slave boys’ her son instead. Venus rushes to get revenge on Psyche, only to run into Juno and Ceres, who basically tell her to chill out. Psyche goes to one of the shrines of Ceres and begs the goddess to help her. Ceres tells Psyche that Venus is her niece and they share friendship ties beside that. Ceres cannot afford to offend Venus. Ceres sends Psyche away, saying to be thankful that Ceres is not keeping her to give to Venus. Psyche leaves, crying, and stumbles across one of the shrines of Juno. She begs the goddess to help her. Juno says that she has always loved Venus as a daughter and will not go against her.

Psyche decides to find Venus herself, thinking perhaps that will mollify her. However, Venus has already gone to Mercury for help. Mercury spreads information about Psyche to every mortal man. The reward for finding her is seven kisses from Venus herself. Hearing this, Psyche goes to Venus. Venus is enraged, and hands Psyche over to her servants, Anxiety and Sorrow, for punishment. They beat her, then bring her back to Venus. Venus mocks her, saying the child she is still carrying (!) will be illegitimate if she allows it to be born at all.

Venus then mixes beans, lentils, wheat, millet, barley, chickpeas, and poppy seeds into a pile and orders Psyche to sort it out by the evening. However, and ant was passing by and observed all of this. Dismayed and disgusted by the cruelty of the goddess, the ant called to others of its kind, and they sorted out the pile for Psyche. The next morning, Venus orders Psyche to collect the golden wool from the sheep nearby. Psyche leaves to do so, only to find a reed who instructs her to leave the sheep where they are, but to follow their trail through the woods, as the wool gets caught on the branches and thorns of the forest. The sheep are quite prone to fits of violence, which makes it very easy for Psyche to follow them and collect their wool. When Psyche takes the wool back to Venus, Venus is even more angry. She orders Psyche to bring her water from the River Styx and the River Cocytus. Psyche climbed to the top of the mountain and saw the snakes that surrounded the River. She would not be able to get the water by herself. Jupiter’s eagle, seeing her distress flew down and offered to get the water for her. The eagle was able to avoid the snakes and get the water.

Venus, who is quite annoyed with Psyche for being able to perform all the impossible tasks set before her, gives her another. Psyche is to go to the Underworld and find Proserpine, Venus’ daughter, and ask her for a jar of her beauty. A turret on the tower Psyche has climbed to tells her how to get through the Underworld safely. Above all else, the turret tells her not to be tempted on the way back by the jar of divine beauty.

Psyche opens the jar, only to find ‘deathly, truly Stygian sleep’. She drops into slumber immediately. Cupid, who has healed and escaped from the room his mother locked him in, finds her. He wakes her by touching her with one of his arrows. He tells her to take the jar to his mother and that he will take care of everything else. Cupid flies to Jupiter to ask for support. Jupiter agrees, on the condition that Cupid give him a different girl of ‘outstanding beauty’. Jupiter makes Psyche immortal, and the gods celebrate the marriage of Psyche and Cupid. Their daughter was soon born and was named Pleasure.

Lucius, the man who was turned into a donkey, found this story quite appealing. The robbers found he had bruised one of his hooves and gone lame, and had decided they would throw him over the cliff. Lucius frees himself and tries to run. However, the old woman who was telling the story sees this and grabs the rope, being dragged along as Lucius runs. The girl who the robbers had taken captive frees Lucius from the old woman and climbs upon his back. They escape together, and the girl promises to take care of Lucius.

                                                          Psyche

Part B ends here.