‘ Not even the gods could tear you from my heart dear Psyche .’ The distant voice of my husband whispered on our wedding night . The memory made me fall in love again . I replied to the Goddess that I loved Cupid , and with her being the Goddess of Love , she could decide if that was worth my life . I prepared myself to die , clutching to the memory of how my name sounded upon Cupid ’ s lips , but my death never came .
Instead , she demanded that I earn her son and earn my place in the sky beside him . I would have to complete a set of perilous tasks , tasks that would wear my body to bone and torment my mortal limits . First I separated heaps of grain and seeds into separate piles , with the help of ants who pitied my sorrow . Then I stole a scrap of wool from a golden sheep who lived among a field of murderous bulls , by lulling the bulls to sleep with a song . After this task I was almost lost , but Aphrodite was still not appeased . She sent me to climb a treacherous mountain , barefoot , to retrieve the water of the river Styx . But at the water lay a fearsome beast that not even my wit could best .
I knew then why Aphrodite had sent me , she wanted me dead all along , she just wished for me to suffer more first . For a moment the monsters jaws seemed appealing , but I couldn ’ t bring myself to die without trying to see my love again . I had to know his voice one last time before I met Hades in the underworld . I prepared myself for this task , but before I could step into sight a great eagle with shining wings landed at my side with a cup of murky dark water . I took the cup and the eagle , to my astonishment , spoke : ‘ My debt to Cupid is now paid .’ Then it flew back to the sky . I didn ’ t know it then , but Zeus , the king of gods himself , had just assisted me in my task – repaying my husband for a favour long ago .
I returned to Aphrodite with the cup and she without a glance threw the water to the ground . She cursed my stupidity , claiming I was too late for whatever she needed the drink for , now what she needed was an object from hell . A box containing Persephone , the Queen of the Underworld ’ s , beauty . And to retrieve this box I would have to die .
I had accepted my fate . I was worn , and the goddess had defeated me . Even if I was able to take the box from Persephone , I would not be able to leave the underworld as a ghost . I knelt at the top of a high mountain and prepared myself for death .
‘ Do not lose hope , Psyche ,’ a voice from behind me spoke . I turned and saw nobody there . The voice came again and told me they were the spirit of the mountain I knelt upon , and they knew a way into the underworld without me dying . The rocks hummed for a moment , then the mountain split creating a dark gaping hole and revealing the onyx gates to the realm of the dead .
Pysche on Love 62