Week 2 (Storytelling): Venus and Psyche

In the meadows of Nysa, one of the goddess’s favorite sacred havens, Venus walks through throngs of flowers to celebrate the new spring. Sunshine illuminates the vast meadows and reflects from the waters that it is almost blinding. However, it is not a sight you want to close your eyes from. Countless blossoms bloom in the new sunshine, creatures emerge from their winter slumber, and chatter fills the air with liveliness. Venus watches as her servants enjoy the relaxing day. Some are picking flowers, while some sit, sharing secrets, and others are playing a…….scream? Everyone looks at the source of the noise. One young servant dressed in blue clothes looks pale and is as frozen as if Medusa had stunned her.

Venus hurries to her. “What is it, my child?”

She turns to look in the same direction and sees it. Not an it, a her. A young maiden in her later teens emerges from behind the tree.

“What is this nonsense? What name do you go by, young maiden? Why do you trespass here?”

“I am known as Psyche, the youngest princess of a king, not far from here. I did not mean to cause harm. I just wanted to gander with my own eyes the beauty of this place,” says the pretty young maiden.

“These lands are blessed, as decreed by the father of all gods himself. No mortal is allowed to walk on the soft soil or lay his or her eyes on the lush greenery. Begone,” sneered one servant.

“Yes, no servants are permitted to come here, especially not a vile-looking creature as yourself, human,” laughed another. All the servants followed.

However, this young maiden was not a vile-looking creature. She was actually a very beautiful girl, an uncommon beauty. She had light brown hair done up in an unruly braid that hung down on her shoulders. Her pale and delicate skin greatly contrasted with her strong facial features, deep-set eyes, a tall nose, high cheekbones, and a pointed chin. Her most attractive feature was her eyes. They shined light brown in the sunlight, but in the shade they looked green around the edges. They were the most unique set of eyes the goddess had ever laid her eyes on.  She had to have them.

“Tell me, Psyche, why do your eyes change as they do? They are a wonder that I have not seen before and I am the fairest of all creatures in Heaven and Earth. Tell me, Psyche.”

 “I am sorry, great Venus, I do not know why. I am the only of my family and our kingdom that can do such.”

“I see. You do know where you are standing is sacred ground? The air you are breathing is revered? The sight you are seeing is blessed? Your kind is not welcomed here.”

“Yes, I do know. Please spare my life! I did not wish to do harm! I just wanted to see your splendor with my own eyes. You are the queen of all that is exquisite,” begged Psyche.

“Do not be afraid, young and naïve Psyche. I will not take your life away. However, I cannot allow you to leave unpunished from trespassing. Since you yearned so much to see this safe haven, I shall make sure this that last thing you see.”

With that, the goddess’s servants held poor and struggling Psyche down, while one pulled out her eyes. Psyche cried with all her lungs with the worse pain.

“My eyes! How can I see now? Please Venus, give me back my sight!”
“They are mine now. Hush, young one. Stay calm. I will not give back your eyes, but I will make you my servant. I will grant you immortality and your status will no longer be a mere mortal."

(Psyche Before The Throne Of Venus; 

photo by Henrietta Rae; source:ArtScroll)

Author's Note  - In the original plot of Cupid and Psyche, Venus is jealous of Psyche because humans used to praise her more than they praised Venus. If you do not already know, when Venus is envious of someone, she goes on a rampage. There is a lot more to the story, but at some point, Venus is torturing poor Psyche. When I first wrote this story, I tried to come up with a storyline that went with the original storyline of Venus and Psyche. However, I came at a dead end and ran out of things to write so I looked at storytelling from my peers and realized that some people took a completely different take from the original plot. So I redid my whole storyline to what it is now. Obviously, this is completely different from the original storyline so this is not a retelling of the story. Rather, I use the characters, their personalities, and some of the basic ideas from the original story and made a completely new storyline. I ended up liking this version of my storytelling a lot more than what I had before even though it is a bit gruesome. I tried to imitate the typical flamboyant and descriptive language Roman stories are written in. I'm not sure if I did it justice, but I gave it a shot.

Book: The Golden Ass
Author:ApuleiusYear
Published: 2013
Web Source: Poetry in Translation

Week 2 (Essay): Eros and Psyche Review

 (Eros+Psyche by dahlig; soure: deviantART)

            This week I read the story of Cupid and Psyche from The Golden Ass by Apulieus and translated by Tony Kline. I enjoyed the readings of this unit. The overview was very good in describing the story so that I knew the basic idea of the unit without blatantly giving away the plot. I am really glad I chose this story. There was enough drama where people did not think it was over-the-top. It is also not one of the more common Roman myths like Persephone, the Golden Apple, etc. At least, I had never heard of this story before within my four years of taking Latin.

For these types of readings, most people do not usually like the diction because it is different from how contemporary are written. The writing is so descriptive and flamboyant that many people end up getting confused, but I happen to enjoy it very much. Even for those that are not used to this style of writing, the notes and background information helped with understanding the story. One of the notes that could be improved would be in the Oracle of Apollo. It would have been nice to have more notes about the prophecy portion. Because it was a bit difficult to decipher, this was my least favorite story. Other than that, I liked all of the stories because the supplemented notes were sufficient for understanding what was happening.

As for the story itself, I also ended up enjoying it. There were a few slow parts and many repetitions, as with a lot of Greek/Roman mythologies, but the overall experience was good.  Like I said, the notes really helped readers understand the background material of the stories better. I liked how some topics were linked to other websites in case someone wanted to look more into the background material. I wished some notes were at the end of the story because they felt like a spoiler, but it was not a big deal.

Week 2 (Reading Diary): Cupid and Psyche

Cupid and Psyche

 The Captive Woman This little rich girl is a bit crazy. She was definitely sheltered in her life. Even when her kidnappers assured her that she was only for ransom and she was not going to be killed, the little girl went on a tantrum. 

Her Dream That was a really intense dream the little rich girl had. I can see why she threw such a tantrum now. It is really scary when you have a dream of someone you have know all your life dying. She probably felt a bit guilty like it was her fault for being kidnapped because now she thinks her fiance will die. I am a little bit more interested now.

Psyche's Beauty I believe a common theme in many Roman tales is a story within a story. I also think every story about Venus (Aphrodite) has something to do with a human being beautiful and her getting jealous. Then her jealousy causes her to do something mean to the human. It is ironic that the son of the goddess of love, ruins marriages. 

Oracle of Apollo It is so sad how even though Psyche did not ask for her divine beauty that she cannot wed. In that era, a woman's main role, especially of her rank, was to find a husband and bare his children. If she could not marry, then she was practically worthless to her family. Of course, today it is different.

The Magical Palace This section of the story was mainly a description of Psyche's new home. When she thought that she was going to die, she finds her new home. It is very grand and magical. Her new home is much more splendid than any human home. She also has very many servants, but they are all invisible. I can see how it is similar to the Beauty and the Beast now.

The Mysterious Husband Okay....this section of the story started off really weird. But what is a Roman myth if there isn't a little bit of weirdness to it? Anyway, after the weird part, Psyche's husband, whose identity is unknown to her, warns her to not see her sisters. If she does, it will bring a bad fortune. However, Psyche was able to convince him by crying a lot and then seducing him.

The Jealousy of Psyche's Sisters Well what do you know, Psyche's husband, the god, was right about the bad fortune. After Psyche's sisters saw her beautiful home and all of her riches, they became jealous. Who could really blame them though? Their youngest sister always got the spotlight and praise. Now, she has the dream life.

Psyche's Husband Warns Her So Psyche's husband warns her again the evil nature of her sisters. He actually warns her twice, but of course she brings out the tears and begs him to let her see them. Tears are a powerful weapon against a man and/or god. The good news is that Psyche is now pregnant!

Fears and Doubts These sisters are so evil. Psyche's husband was right to compare them to Sirens, Harpies, and Furies. They are so deep in envy that they would do so much wrong to their own little sister.

Psyche's Husband Revealed It got a bit weird again. Well Psyche discovered the real appearance of her husband. He turns out to be handsome and she smothers him with kisses. Then he wakes up and he spills the beans that it was all a plan that they married devised by his mother. If I were Psyche, I would have felt betrayed. 

Psyche's Despair  Woah, sweet and naive Psyche is not as sweet and naive as I thought. Her sisters were so unhappy in their marriages that when Psyche told them her husband, Cupid, left her for them, they did not hesitate to leave. They did not even think that Psyche would lie to them. It is very ironic. Unfortunately, or fortunately, they both fell to their deaths. 

Venus and the Goddesses  So Venus finds out about Cupid's deceit. Now she is enraged and is searching to find Psyche and possibly kill her. Juno and Ceres try to reason with her, but she cannot be reasoned with.

Psyche's Prayer This part was really sad. Psyche has been searching day and night for her husband. That is not safe for her child, but what other choice does she have? She ends up in Ceres's temple and asks for shelter, but Ceres cannot betray Venus, her niece, so Psyche moves on. Psyche finds Juno's temple, but again, is denied shelter.

Venus and Mercury Psyche has nowhere to go so she contemplates going to Venus's house. Meanwhile, Venus can not find Psyche on Earth so she asked for the assistance of Mercury (Hermes). She tells him to send messages to humans that Psyche is a runaway servant. That is, of course, a lie! I should say I can't believe her, but after having read so many of these stories before, I can believe it. Venus is very vengeful and self-centered. If things do not go her way, she cause chaos and destruction until it is her way.

Venus and Psyche Psyche is taken to Venus and she is brutally tormented. There is a lot of hair pulling and slapping. Then Venus leaves her to separate all these grains from one huge pile. Fortunately, Psyche gets help from ants. 

Psyche's Next Task Now Venus tells Psyche to take the wool from sheep. Psyche was so unhappy that she tried to commit suicide again, but a small reed (I think that's a spirit or nymph) saves her and tells her how to complete the task. So she does it and Venus is very upset.

The Third Task So now Psyche is supposed to collect water from an evil fountain in the Underworld. When she arrives to the area, it is unimaginably dangerous, even for the gods. Fortunately, Providence, Jupiter's favorite eagle, was flying by and decided to help her complete the task.

Jar of Beauty Again, Venus was not happy that Psyche completed the task so she gave another one to her. This time, she had to visit Persephone, the goddess of the Underworld. Psyche, again, tried to kill herself. Then someone stopped her, again. This invisible spirit told her how to complete task and she did it. There is so much repetition in these stories.

The Sleep of the Dead Psyche's foolishness caused her to do open the jar of beauty. This made her fall into a deep sleep. Fortunately, Cupid came to her rescue and removed the deep sleep from her. After that, Cupid came to Jupiter asking for his blessing. Jupiter granted it to him, in return for a beauty of his own.

The Wedding Feast/Lucius and the Robbers  I had complete forgot that this was a story within a story. Well in the Wedding Feast, they had a grand celebration. Jupiter even made Psyche a goddess. Venus did not seem too unhappy at the wedding celebration. Then in the second half, the robbers came back. Many were wounded and they started to complain about Lucius. They made plans to kill him.

The Escape In this section the captured princess and Lucius was able to escape. Hurrah! Lucius did not want to die so he did what any man-animal would have done, he escaped. The old woman tried stop him and gave a good effort. However, the princess twisted the rope from the old woman's hands and hopped on. Then they rode off.