Week 3 Story: Love is Blind

Cupid was shaking with anger, his hands balled into fists at his sides. He stormed out of the room, his mother yelling behind him, “She isn’t good enough for you, no girl will ever be good enough!”

He had just told his mother, Venus, that he found a girl he wanted to marry. A beautiful mortal named Psyche. He had been watching her from the heavens, watching everyone fall for her beauty and he became jealous. Cupid wanted Psyche for himself. He knew his mother didn’t want him to pursue Psyche because she was jealous of her incredible beauty. He had heard the whispers around the world, the whispers that compared Psyche’s beauty to his mother’s, and he knew she hated it.

He ran out the front doors to the palace and immediately took flight, heading for Psyche’s home village. Landing in the cover of some trees. He decided to hide his bow and arrows in the hollow of one of the trees and changed his outward appearance so no mortal would recognize him. Strolling into town, Cupid tried to look casual while keeping his eye out for his lovely mortal girl. He spotted her, a group of young men around her, admiring her beauty. Cupid was overcome once again with jealousy. Walking over to where the group of people congregated and asked Psyche if he could speak with her in private. Shock by the young man’s boldness, Psyche agreed and walked with him, curious to who he was and what he wanted.

Once they were out of earshot from the other villagers, Cupid introduced himself as Caesar and began talking to Psyche, trying to get to know her better. He wanted to know if she was as beautiful on the inside as she was on the outside. Psyche was immediately smitten by Cupid. She didn’t even know his true identity, but she loved the way he spoke, the way he seemed to care so much for her though they were strangers. They talked for hours, getting to know each other on a deeper emotional level before Cupid told Psyche he must leave her and return home. Psyche asked when he’d return to see her, but Cupid, posing as a commoner named Caesar, simply smiled at her and told her, “Soon”.

As Cupid flew home, he realized that he was completely in love. He decided that the next time her saw Psyche that he would reveal his true self to her. He wanted to marry her, but he wanted her to know who he was first.

Venus had watched Cupid’s interaction with Psyche and fumed with anger. She had already spoken to her son about Psyche, and she had forbidden him to pursue the mortal girl and he did it anyway. In her blind rage, Venus planned to get rid of Psyche. She descended to earth, to Psyche’s village, and lured her out of her home and into the woods by pretending to be a young girl needing help. Once they were alone, Venus transformed into her original form in front of Psyche. Psyche immediately recognized Venus and was shocked and confused by the goddess’s sudden appearance. Before Psyche could even speak, Venus lashed out at her swiping her hard across the face. Psyche screamed in pain grasping her face in agony. She tried to see where Venus was and if she was going to come after her again, but when she opened her eyes all she saw was darkness. She couldn’t see, she was blind. Pleased with the damage she caused to Psyche’s beauty, Venus left her there in the woods.

Cupid, keeping a close watch on Psyche from the heavens, heard her cries, and immediately descended to her. Finding her in a broken heap on the ground, Cupid wrapped the hurt girl up into his arms murmuring apologies and reassurances into her ear. He flew her to his palace to get her help.

Once Psyche was in bed and her wounds were bandaged, Cupid visited her planning on telling her who he was at last and why Venus had attacked her. He explained everything to her, how he’d loved her from a distance, how his mother hated her for her beauty, how he’d visited her in disguise as Caesar, and how he realized he loved her enough that he planned to show his true form to her. After hearing this, Psyche declared her love for him as well, but that she’d never be able to truly see him because his mother had taken her sight. Cupid was enraged to find out his mother was a fault for his love’s injuries and decided to make Psyche immortal and run away to marry her behind Venus’s back. Though Psyche was blind and cursed with never being able to lay her eyes on her lover, they lived happily in the heavens away from Venus.

Cupid and Psyche Statue: Sara Darcaj

Author’s Notes

My story is based on Cupid and Psyche by Tony Kline. In the original story, Psyche is forced to marry someone she doesn’t know and that she can’t even see because he conceals his identity through the darkness of night. Her husband ends up being Cupid and when he finds out she secretly looked at him while he was asleep, he was furious. In the original Venus does despise Psyche for her beauty, and plots against her. I wanted to keep close to the original story by using the same characters and sticking to a similar theme but I decided to flip the plot a tiny bit by making Cupid go down to earth to secretly get to know the woman he was so enraptured by and who his mother despised. I wanted Venus to use her son’s disobedience as a way of acting on her angry jealously of Psyche’s beauty. So instead of Psyche not being able to see Cupid because he wanted to keep his identity a secret, I wanted Psyche to lose her sight from Venus’s wrath so she didn’t have the choice to see Cupid at all.

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