Psyche and her two elder sisters were princesses in a kingdom. Psyche was so beautiful that people from all over the kingdom and even beyond it, were thrilled by her beauty.
Aphrodite was the Greek Goddess of love and beauty. When she heard of Psyche’s beauty, Aphrodite became jealous that people gave more attention to Psyche than to her. It hurt the Goddess more because people did not come to Aphrodite’s temples and instead went to see Psyche, who was rumoured to be even more beautiful than the Goddess.
Aphrodite, irritated, decided to solve the problem by summoning her son Eros.
Eros was the God of love and desire. He threw arrows at the hearts of humans to make them fall in love.
"Make the beautiful Psyche fall in love with the most despicable and ugly creature on earth." Aphrodite instructed her son.
Eros was a very obedient son. He flew to earth to fulfill his mother’s wishes.
But once, Eros looked at Psyche, he was stunned. Accidentally, he pricked himself with his own arrow.
Following that, Eros fell deeply in love with Psyche. Eros decided that he had to save the beautiful princess from the wrath of his mother, and he left her alone.
But Psyche’s problems were far from over.
Men came to admire her beauty, but they did not want to marry her. So though she was beautiful beyond compare, she could not get married.
The unhappy state of affairs continued even as Psyche’s older sisters got married.
That was when Psyche’s parents were worried that they had done something to offend the Gods, and so the king approached the Oracle of Delphi for advice.
The Oracle solemnly looked at the king and sighed. "Your daughter will marry a beast that even the Gods will fear."
As the Oracle continued, the royal couple became terrified. "Dress her in black clothes and let her walk up the tallest rock mountain in your kingdom. Nothing else can be done for her."
Sadly, the couple told Psyche the Oracle’s prediction for her.
Unhappily, Psyche did as she was asked to do.
There on the mountain, Psyche was terrified and waiting for a monster to come.
A wind carried the scared Psyche off the mountain, far away from the kingdom.
Psyche was terrified, but no one could help her, and she did not know where the wind was taking her. She thought that all this was the monster’s doing and did not know what to expect as she was terrified out of her wits.
However, the wind gently deposited Psyche in a place far away from her own kingdom. There was a lovely meadow and a magnificent castle in front of Psyche.
Psyche was guided by gentle, invisible voices all around her. "This is your home. You will be well taken care of here. You have nothing to worry."
Psyche found the courage to follow the voices and enter the castle.
Psyche's every need was met in the castle, just as the voices had predicted. There was treasure all over the castle; rich food was served at all times, and there was gentle music playing around just to soothe her.
At night, she had a gentle and caring lover in her bed.
But Psyche’s lover took care to stay invisible to her and never let her see him.
Over the next months, Psyche was sure that all these things had been done by her husband, and he was her unseen lover at night.
She learnt to enjoy herself more and lived like a Goddess in the castle.
However, Psyche slowly became homesick. She realized that though she was living happily in her new home, her parents and sister would be mourning for her. They would still believe that she was dead after being carried off by a monster from the top of the rock mountain.
That night, she told her lover that she wished to meet her family and just talk to them.
Her lover agreed to it but warned her not to get influenced by other people’s ideas and notions.
Psyche happily nodded, not quite understanding her lover’s advice.
A few days later, Psyche’s sisters were brought to the meadow the same way that Psyche was brought here.
The sisters cried in happiness on seeing each other.
Psyche's two sisters, on the other hand, saw her sister's opulence and luxury and were curious about the owner of the castle and Psyche's lover who had allowed her to live like this.
Psyche could not answer their questions truthfully.
Psyche’s sisters grew jealous that their sister lived like a Goddess.
The three sisters lived in the castle for a few days, and then the other two sisters decided to go back home.
However, while leaving, the jealous sisters had a word of advice for Psyche. "Your husband seems to be a monster, Psyche. Even the Oracle of Delphi said that you would be taken by a beast. I think your husband looks hideous, and that is the reason that he keeps himself hidden."
Psyche stared uncomprehendingly at her sisters, unwilling to believe that her gentle lover was a monster.
Her eldest sister shook her head in mock sadness. "There is no other reason why he would keep himself hidden from someone like you."
Her second sister solemnly nodded her head. "Take care, Psyche."
That very night, Psyche took a dagger and a lantern to bed with her.
When her lover came to bed, Psyche lit the lantern to properly see his face.
Psyche tried to look at the face of her lover from the light of the lantern when he came to bed at night.
Eros was so handsome that it was impossible not to look away from him after looking at him once. Psyche was startled at seeing how handsome Eros was, and her hands shook. A drop of oil from the lantern fell on Eros’s face, and he woke up from his sleep.
Eros looked at Psyche and realized that she had seen his face.
Eros ran from there, and Psyche tried following him.
"Love cannot exist without trust." Eros told her as he disappeared from there. The castle also disappeared as Psyche found herself back in her own kingdom.
Psyche realized that Eros, the God of Love, had been her husband, and she had not trusted him after believing the words of her sisters. She was unhappy and heartbroken and she roamed around the world in search of her lover.
On her way, she visited both her sisters. When her sisters learnt the truth about Psyche’s husband, they were so jealous that they decided to offer themselves in place of Psyche. They also climbed the rock mountain in the hope of finding Eros. But the two sisters fell to their deaths because the wind did not carry them as it did Psyche.
Back to Psyche: she roamed far and wide in search of Eros but found him nowhere.
Finally having no choice, Psyche approached Aphrodite to help her.
The Goddess of Love did not make things easy for Psyche. She was still jealous and wanted Psyche to prove that she was the appropriate wife for her son.
First, Aphrodite led Psyche to a huge mountain of food grains. The mountain was just that—a huge mountain with a mixture of every single variety of food grain. "Separate all the grains, and I shall decide whether you would be a good wife for Eros."
Unable to bear the despair of his wife, Eros ordered some ants to help Psyche.
The ants separated the grains easily and in no time at all.
Aphrodite was shocked to see that the work was done, but she could not believe that Psyche had done this without any help. But Aphrodite could not prove it either.
Unwilling to give in, Aphrodite set the next task for the girl—to get the golden fleece from a violent herd of sheep, who were grazing near a river.
The God of the River advised Psyche to wait until midday—that was when the sheep were very sleepy and would not attack her.
After this, Psyche was easily able to collect the golden fleece from the sheep.
Aphrodite again suspected that Psyche had outside help, but this time too, she could not prove it.
The third time, the Goddess of Love asked Psyche to get water from the River Styx. The river Styx was believed to be the boundary between the earth and the underworld.
Though Psyche could see the river, she could not get to the water because the surrounding terrain was steep and slippery.
The eagle of Zeus, the Greek God of Thunder, who was the King of all Gods, helped Psyche in her third task. The eagle flew into the river and brought water for Psyche.
Aphrodite was stunned on seeing the water and suspected that Psyche had outside help, but this time too, she could not prove it.
So, for the fourth time, Aphrodite asked Psyche to get a portion of Persephone’s beauty from the underworld.
Hades was the Greek God of the Dead and the Underworld. Persephone was the Goddess of vegetation, and she was kidnapped by Hades and subsequently married him. Since then, Persephone has been the Goddess of the Underworld.
Psyche is in despair because she felt that she could not complete the final task. So she was about to end her life by jumping off a high tower when a voice guided her. The voice instructed her on the location of the opening to the Underworld and warned Psyche to maintain silence throughout her journey.
Psyche followed the instructions (which were from Eros) and found Persephone, who gladly gave her a closed box that contained a portion of Persephone’s beauty.
Psyche got the box out of the Underworld.
But unfortunately, on reaching earth, curiosity overcame Psyche, and she opened the box.
She fell into a deep sleep on opening the box from the Goddess of Death.
Eros, who saw this, realized that Psyche loved him. By this time, the scars from the oil on his face had also healed, and Eros had more or less forgotten all about them.
Eros first woke Psyche up from her sleep and then approached Zeus and the other Gods to help him.
Psyche was offered ambrosia, the nectar of the Gods, so that she could be with Eros for all eternity.
In the end, Aphrodite was also happy with this.
Psyche lived in the Heavens with Eros and was forgotten by the world of men, and men again went to the temples of the Goddess of Love and Beauty.
