Story Telling, Week 2 Story: Cupid and Psyche

Cupid and Psyche reuniting.

(Photo by Wikimedia Commons)

Cupid and Psyche: Retold 

There was a beautiful Princess, named Psyche. She was so beautiful, it was rumored she was actually the goddess, Venus. Because people believed she was Venus, they stopped worshipping her shrines and stopped celebrating holidays in her name. This made the real Venus very angry.

Venus came up with a plan to destroy Psyche. She sent her son, Cupid, to make her fall in love with him, only so he can leave her and break her heart. Although, Psyche was the most beautiful girl in the world, she was very lonely. No man felt worthy enough for her. She often spent her time alone, writing by the pond near her castle.

Cupid, following his mother’s orders, disguised himself as handsome prince. He approached her as she was sitting alone and began talking to her. He called himself, Prince Eros. The king and queen were suspicious because they’ve never heard of this prince before and the king banned Psyche from every seeing him again.

Psyche did not listen. She and Prince Eros would sneak around and meet at the pond every day. If they could not see each other they would have messengers deliver love letters to each other. Psyche was in love and so was Cupid. Cupid found himself in a dilemma. Should he break Psyche’s heart like his mother commanded or should he fight to be with Psyche? He knew that he could be no match for his mother, she was too powerful and she would always find him.

One day, Psyche was waiting by the pond for Prince Eros. He never showed up. She began crying, worried something might have happened to him. Then, approached a messenger. He handed her a letter and disappeared. She wept after reading the letter. Prince Eros told her he never loved her and that he was using her for her family’s fortune. He decided to give up and move on when he realized her parents would never let them be together.

She was so upset, she hung herself later that evening. The whole town was devastated by her death. The town and people from all over came to her funeral to worship because they still believed she was Venus. The death of Psyche caused the celebrations in Venus’s name to be canceled and the shrines were abandoned. It hurt the people too much to celebrate Psyche after her death.

This made Venus angrier. She thought surely by destroying Psyche, the people would forget about her and bring their attention back to Venus. But they did not. The people were in love with Psyche even after death.

Cupid was just as upset about his lover’s death. He was so upset he confessed to his mother everything, in hopes that she would punish him by making him mortal, and killing him. And that is exactly what she did.

Feeling betrayed Venus stripped Cupid of his bow and arrow and turned him into a mortal. She loved being powerful and loved being loved more than she loved her own son. She killed him by sword with her own hand. As he was dying he thanked his mother for killing him. Confused she questioned him. As he took his last breath, he told his mother that he could now be with his love, Psyche, forever.

Psyche and Cupid meet in a beautiful castle, in another world. Though, physically different, Psyche knew exactly who he was. They remained together for the rest of eternity, while Venus was left, uncelebrated and forgotten with time.

Bibliography. Apuleius. "Cupid and Psyche" Web Source. 

Author's Note: The original story was a lot more violent and Venus was relentless. Everyone also got a happy ending in the original story. Venus was jealous of Psyche and tortured her. But for some reason she decided that if Psyche were immortal she could be with Cupid, so she made Psyche immortal and decided she  somehow wasn't jealous anymore. It wasn't exactly discussed in the story how she got over her jealousy. But she got over it and Psyche and Cupid were married and had a baby named Pleasure. I decided to have Venus turn Cupid into a mortal and kill him instead of the other ending because I liked the idea of a tragic happy ending. I also think it is more realistic of Venus because in the original story she was selfish but randomly turned maternal at the end. I liked the idea of her staying selfish and evil, because I felt the maternal part didn't fit. So Venus kills her own son, however, Cupid and Psyche end up happily every after, because they end up together in their deaths.