Cupid and Psyche

Once upon a time there was a king with three daughters. They were all beautiful, but by
far the most beautiful was the youngest, Psyche. She was so beautiful that people
began to neglect the worship of Venus (Aphrodite), the goddess of love and beauty.
Venus was very jealous, and asked her son Cupid to make Psyche fall in love with a
horrible monster. When he saw how beautiful she was, Cupid dropped the arrow meant
for her and pricked himself, and fell in love with her.

Despite her great beauty no-one wanted to marry Psyche. Her parents consulted an
oracle, and were told that she was destined to marry a monster, and they were to take
her to the top of a mountain and leave her there. The west wind took her and wafted her
away to a palace, where she was waited on by invisible servants. When night came her
new husband visited her, and told her that he would always visit her by night and she
must never try to see him.

Although her invisible husband was kind and gentle with her, and the invisible servants
attended to her every desire, Psyche grew homesick. She persuaded her husband to
allow her sisters to visit her. When they saw how she lived they became very jealous
and talked Psyche into peeking at her husband, saying that he was a monster who was
fattening her up to be eaten and that her only chance of safety was to kill him. Psyche
took a lamp and a knife, but when she saw her beautiful husband, Cupid, she was so
surprised she dripped some hot wax onto his shoulder, waking him. He took in the
situation at a glance and immediately left Psyche and the magnificent palace she had
been living in disappeared in a puff of smoke.

Psyche roamed about looking for her husband, and eventually in desperation
approached his mother, Venus. Still angry, the goddess set various tasks for Psyche.
The first was to take a pile of wheat, barley, millet, vetches, beans, and lentils and
separate them by evening. In despair, Psyche was unable to start dividing the grains.
An ant took pity in her and called over its fellow ants and separated the pile for Psyche
and then disappeared before Venus returned.

The next morning, Venus demanded that Psyche cross a river and collect the golden
wool of the sheep grazing there. When she reached the riverside, the river god warned
Psyche not to tempt a flood and beware of the rams that destroy mortals. Instead, he
advised Psyche to cross at midday, when the waters were calm and the sheep took
shelter in the shade and pick the wool off of the bushes and trees.

For the next task, Venus handed Psyche a box and instructed her to travel to the
underworld and collect beauty from Proserpine. Psyche decided to throw herself off a
tower and let fate dictate her path through the underworld. But as she stood on the
tower's top, a voice from the tower told her of a safer way to travel to Hades's realm. It
also warned her to not open the box after collecting the beauty. After successfully
 navigating through the underworld and collecting the beauty, Psyche's curiousity got the
best of her. As she opened the box, she was overcome by a deep sleep.

At last Cupid found out what was going on, he flew to where Psyche lay and gathered
the sleep from her body and put it back into the box. He then persuaded Jupiter to order
Venus to stop her persecution of Psyche. Then they were married and lived happily ever
after - and it really was ever after since Psyche was made a goddess. In due time,
Psyche gave birth to a daughter, Pleasure.

ANSWER THE QUESTIONS IN YOUR NOTEBOOK:

1. Why was Venus jealous of Psyche?
2. True or False, Cupid was supposed to make Psyche fall in love with a horrible monster, but instead, he fell
in love with her himself.
3. How many daughters did the king have at the beginning of the story?
4. What task did Venus give Psyche involving wheat, barley, etc.?
5. How did Psyche travel to the Underworld to retrieve beauty from Proserpine?
6. True or False: Psyche succeeded in all of Venus' tasks without any assistance.
7. What bodily harm did Psyche accidentally cause Cupid?
8. At the end of the story, what did Psyche become after marrying Cupid?
9. Identify the Gods/Goddesses List the gods and goddesses that appear in the myth and their roles:
10. Identify Mythical Characters Name the mythical characters in the story who are not gods/goddesses and
describe their role

Symbolic Objects/Places Identify symbolic objects or places in the myth and explain their meaning:
The Palace - __________________________

The Box - __________________________

The Underworld -__________________________

Themes/Morals Analyze the overarching themes and potential morals of the myth

Creative Response

If you could rewrite how this myth ended, what would you change? How could you modernize the story?