Reading Notes: Cupid and Psyche, Part B

Mercury and Psyche Photo by Christian Paul

Venus and the Goddesses

- Venus finds out that Cupid is in love with Psyche and absolutely loses it.

- She finds Cupid and basically chews him out about how much of a disappointment her is.

- Venus ponders out loud what she could do to fix this mess, her embarrassment. 

- Luckily Juno and Ceres try to talk her down saying she shouldn't be so eager to hurt the woman her son loved, but she didn't want to hear it and left them.

Psyche's Prayer

- Psyche was upset and hurt, and restlessly searched for Cupid hoping to make amends. 

- Psyche stumbled upon the goddess Ceres who warns her that Venus is searching for her and that she shouldn't be out in the open, but Psyche just weeps at her feet.

- Psyche begs and prays for help from Ceres but Ceres denys her because of closely tied she is to venus and tells her to leave, and Juno reacts to Psyche in the same way.

Venus and Psyche

- Venus finds and captures Psyche and has her punished and beaten.

- Venus goes on to hit Psyche and rip her hair and clothes, making her ugly. 

- Venus then tells Psyche she must impress her with hard work for approval so she makes her sort out different kinds of beans. 

Psyche's Next Task

- Psyche finished her first task easily, but Venus was not pleased. 

- Venus gives Psyche another task, to retrieve wool from a sheep, but Psyche leaves the palace intending to jump off a cliff and end her life rather than complete another one of Venus's tasks. 

- Psyche ended up abandoning that idea and completed Venus's task anyway, but Venus was still not pleased and gave her yet another task.

The Jar of Beauty

- Psyche complete's Venus's task again, and the goddess was still not pleased.

- Psyche goes to the underworld for Venus to get some of Proserpine's beauty, but questions why she doesn't take a drop of it herself when she returns. 

The Sleep of the Dead

- When she opened the jar she found that there was no beauty but deathly sleep, and dropped where she was into a deep slumber. 

- Cupid finds her and restores her and tells her to finish the task his mother assigned and he'd take care of the rest.

The Wedding Feast

- Juniper declares that Cupid should marry Psyche, and he orders Psyche to be brought to heaven so they could be equals. 

- Cupid and Psyche were married and got to spend forever together. 

The Escape

- After the old woman finished telling the scared girl the story, the donkey broke away and started to run as fast as he could.

- The old woman tried to stop him, but the young girl helped the Donkey and escaped with him. 

Cupid and Psyche: written by Apuleius and translated into English by Tony Kline