A little background about the Gods in the Story
ZEUS (JUPITER): He is the father of the Gods, who overthrew the Titans led by his father Cronus in the great rebellion. He is the God who wields the great power of the Thunderbolt and dwells in Mt Olympus ruling over the heavens and the Earth.
GAEA (Mother Earth): Wife of URANUS (Heaven) and the mother of Cronus.
HELIOS (Sun God): Sometimes also called a Titan, he controls the brightness and movements of the Sun. He wields a flying chariot that neither mortals nor the gods can control.
PHOEBUS APOLLO: Son to Zeus and Leto. A master of musicians who delights the gods of Olympus. He is the God of truth from whose lips no false words ever fall. At Delphi is his oracle who plays a significant role in much of Greek Myth.
APHRODITE (VENUS): Daughter to Zeus and Dione. Goddess of Love and Beauty. Sometimes said to have arisen from the sea foam. She is well known for her powers of irresistibility, the goddess who beguiled all gods and men alike. “The sweet flowers embroider around the earth and the waves of the sea laugh as she moves in radiant light.” There was not a single God on Mt Olympus that did not set his eyes upon her. Without her, no love nor joy existed. Such a radiating presence was Aphrodite.
CUPID (Also known as God of Love or just Love): Son to Aphrodite. A handsome winged youth whose arrows no living creature from the Earth, heaven or the underworld could defend.
HADES AND PERSEPHONE (Proserpine): They are the rulers of the underworld. Hades is a brother to ZEUS . Persephone is the daughter to the Goddess of Corn (DEMETER).
Hades picked up Persephone and took her to the underworld.It is said the deed caused so much pain to her mother, that she almost starved entire humanity to extinction.
Long long ago there reigned a king who had three daughters. They were surpassingly beautiful maidens who brought much radiance and delight to the family. Yet, of the three, the youngest, who went by the name Psyche always stood out among the people. Her grace brought her fame that penetrated every corner of the Earth. People from different places flocked to admire and worship her beauty. In fact, there was a point when people started abandoning the temples built for Venus and placed statues of this young mortal princess instead.
Such attention from the people was not all favourable to the princess, for she had brought onto herself the wrath of the divine Goddess Aphrodite. Brimming with jealousy, the Goddess was not slow to react. She turned swiftly to her son Cupid and said, “Use your power to make the hussy fall in love with the vilest and most despicable creature there is in the whole world.”
Cupid at the time was a man who would do anything his mother bid him. However, little did the Goddess know that her own son would be the victim to her vile plan. So, as commanded, Love took off hovering the skies looking for this glorified young woman. Without much difficulty, he caught sight of the maiden. The very instant he saw her, it was as if Cupid had shot his arrow onto himself. Blinded by his own love he returned home, ashamed by the fact that he could not fulfil his mother’s bidding. Aphrodite was so confident of her son that she rejoiced at his return, proudly embraced him, kissed his forehead and walked away with a contented smile, thinking gleefully about Psyche’s ruin. The Goddess’ anticipation was not fulfilled as expected. In fact, the girl never fell in love. Everyone who came to see her only admired and worshipped her - then going on to marry someone else. Strange as it sounds, there was not a single man who could or would love her. On the other hand, the other two sisters were happily married off to princes from two great royal families and were settled in peacefully.
Troubled by the bizarre situation, her father took the youngest princess to the oracle of Apollo in desperate need for answers and advice on finding her a suitable husband. Cupid anticipated this situation beforehand and implored the God of truth to speak in his favour. So the oracle on receiving the message from above said, “Your daughter is destined to become wife to a winged serpent, a fearful creature stronger than the Gods themselves. Take her to the summit of the rocky mountain that stands on the northern end and leave her alone. That is where the serpent shall take her for his wife.”
The king, being a god-fearing man, decided with much regret and guilt, that he must go ahead with the sacrifice. That whole evening, the entire family wept and mourned her departure as if it were her very end. The following morning, the father and daughter commenced on the arduous two-day-long journey. By the dawn of the third day, they were on the summit. The king had to leave her soon, and he was so overwhelmed by grief that he held her hands for the last time and sorrowfully uttered, “Heaven draws its jealousy upon such beauty and it is I who have to pay the price for such malice.”
Soon after her father departed, the young girl wept silently - terrified of the fearful fate that she believed awaited her. Just then, the mildest and the gentlest of winds grazed her bare skin on the arm, and her heavy heart suddenly seemed to lose its weight. The wind swirled around her chest, going lower and lower until it effortlessly lifted the surprised little maiden from the ground. Unable to comprehend the blend of the magical turn of events and the fright that filled her head, she flew with the wind until it landed her safely on a grassy meadow next to a riverbed.
The grassy meadows were nothing but the front yard of a palace so grand that it could only have been built for a God. The palace was skirted by golden pillars and beautified by fresh young laurel trees. The richness of the palace was further enhanced by fragrant flowers of many kinds - anemone, windflower, narcissus, sunflower and so on.
Exceedingly soft and kind voices spoke to the princess and bade her enter the palace. “We are your servants ready to fulfill all your desires ”, they said as the princess entered the grand hallway, filled with wonder. The voices lead Psyche to have an extravagant, slow and refreshing hot water bath after which she was taken to the dinner table. Foods of the most exquisite kind were served to her. The only thing that seemed unnatural about the place was that there was no one to be seen around her. It was just the voices that kept her comforted. By now, she was convinced that her husband was no fearful serpent, but a gentle lover that she had been looking for, for a very long time.
By nightfall, her husband had arrived at the palace and spoke with Psyche. Just like the voices in the wind, he too was invisible to the mortal eye. His presence was made aware of only through his gentle and caring words.
Although in the initial days she was not content with the half-and-half companionship, over time the maiden learned to love her husband. Alas, among the happy and peaceful days at the palace, an ominous one arrived. Her husband warned Psyche that her sisters were to visit the mountain soon for her mourning and that she was not to present herself to them at any cost. He told her that if she went to receive the two, then she would run the risk revealing her husband, thereby causing permanent separation of the loving couple.
Although for a day Psyche kept to herself, the next she started to weep, not being able to see her sisters. She begged her husband to let her see them. All his attempts to appease her were futile. Her husband had no option but to yield unwillingly. She promised him that under no circumstance would she speak the truth, for she would rather die than forfeit living with him.
On the following day, after a great degree of exchange of excitement between the three sisters, Psyche invited the other two to her palace. Naturally, the two sisters were baffled by the luxuries and the comforts provided inside. They who were filled with sympathetic joy and happiness moments ago were now corrupted by jealous and loathsome thoughts for their sister. When they questioned Psyche on the nature of her husband, her contradictory responses failed to convince the sisters.
She said that he had been hunting and wouldn’t return until late in the night. The sisters were quick to realise that there was no live human in the palace in which Psyche was living.
Convinced of such, they told Psyche that she had actually been married to a winged serpent and was a prisoner in the palace. Frightened, Psyche confessed that she had not seen anyone since the day of her arrival, and had only heard voices. To add to her horror, they went on to convince her that the real reason her husband didn’t show himself was because of his ugly and fearful features.
Soon, thoughts of betrayal and escape started to cloud the poor girl’s judgement. The sisters convinced her to stab the serpent when Psyche sensed him sleeping next to her. They promised to take her away after the deed was done. So that night, the girl lit a lamp and entered the bed chambers where she and her husband slept every night. She had a knife behind her back, and her hands were trembling as she approached the bed, only to hear steady, calm and rhythmic breathing. She was so frightened that her trembling hand dropped hot oil from the lamp onto the sleeping entity.
At that moment, something magnificent revealed itself. To her immense surprise, she found the sweetest and fairest of all creatures rising to the air. Happiness and relief rushed to soothe her pain. She felt joy, peace and love one after the other. The Great God of Love had revealed himself in his pure form, displaying radiating majesty.
In shame, she fell to her knees, dropped the knife and cried loudly. Cupid, fully aware of the faithlessness in his wife and the horrific deed she was about to commit, silently flew out of the window, never to be seen again in the mortal world.
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