On this day where we celebrate all things love, I present to you, in a nutshell, the tale of Cupid and Psyche.
Cupid is the son of the goddess Venus, and he is the god of attraction, erotic love, desire and affection. Psyche is a mortal, albeit a very beautiful one, whose looks rival those of the goddess Venus. Being the jealous type, Venus orders Cupid to make Psyche fall in love with a monster. She figures this will make Psyche miserable for the rest of her life.
Cupid goes to do the deed, but he knicks himself with his own arrow, causing him to fall madly in love with Psyche. The two marry, but Cupid forbids her from ever seeing him, and will only come to visit her at night. He sets her up in a fabulous palatial home, with all the treasures of the world, and the finest cuisine. Her family thinks she is dead, and her sisters go to the cliffs, weeping and wailing. Psyche hears them and begs Cupid to let her visit with them. He reluctantly agrees but tells her to not say anything about him.
The sisters visit, happy that Psyche is not dead, but they ask about her husband. In order to change the subject, she showers them with jewelry. The sisters return home but grow envious of all Psyche’s wealth and their hearts turn bitter. They convince her to take a look at her husband. When she does so, he is revealed to her as the god Cupid. She knicks herself with one of his arrows and falls madly in love, but he storms off, in anger over being exposed.
Psyche, now pregnant, turns to Venus, hoping to get help in tracking down Cupid. Venus, still jealous, and petty, assigns her four impossible tasks, hoping Psyche will fail.
First off, Venus mixed a giant pile of different types of seeds (wheat, barley, millet, poppy, lentils and beans) then told Psyche to sort them all into individual piles by type before twilight. Aided by a colony of ants, Psyche successfully sorts all the seeds.
Next up, Venus tells Psyche to collect golden fleece from carnivorous, man-eating sheep. (Sounds like a bad movie). A whispering reed tells Psyche to wait until noon, when the sheep rest in the shade, then collect all the wool stuck in the briers.
Next, Venus orders Psyche to fill a crystal flask with water from the river that feeds the two rivers, Styx and Cocytus. Jupiter sends an eagle to help Psyche complete the task.
The final task is for Psyche to go to the Underworld, where she is to ask Persephone to fill a box with her beauty. Psyche sets out but before she gets too far a voice tells her to take two coins (to pay Charon, the ferryman who takes souls across the river Styx), two cakes (to feed Cerberus, the three headed hound who guards the gates of the Underworld), and to absolutely, under no circumstances, no matter what she does, to not open the box. Psyche does all this but as in tales like these, she looks in the box, causing her to fall into a deep sleep.
Ultimately, Cupid comes to rescue her. Jupiter grants her immortality so that Cupid and Psyche may marry as equals. And they lived happily ever after.
What can we learn from this? If you get assigned impossible tasks from a jealous goddess, you’re only going to get through them with a little help from your friends. So, treat your friends well, so they don’t leave you hanging.
And love conquers all. Or something like that.
The wife and I had a rough day, as her back spasms returned. Her meds made them tolerable and we went out for a nice dinner and dessert. Then we relaxed at home for the evening.
I hope your Valentine’s Day has been spent with someone you love, my Hordeling.
If you’d like to support my efforts, why not buy me a chocolate chip cookie through my Ko-Fi page? https://ko-fi.com/jhusum