Cupid's Decision

While Psyche was making her way into and out of the underworld, events were unfolding at Venus's palace.

Every evening Venus went to see Cupid. All she wanted was for him to apologize for the pain he had inflicted on her. Venus did not think that was too much to expect after he had so blatantly disobeyed her and made her a mockery among the deities.

Perhaps Cupid would have given his mother the apology she felt she needed if she had not been so insistent about it. But day after day he lay in bed, his body turned away from her, and listened as she paced back and forth across the room, ranting and pleading. What he heard startled him.

Venus's words were not about him; they were only about herself. Nothing mattered except her hurt at his disobedience, her disappointment that he had not lived up to her expectation, and the embarrassment he had caused her.

But what had he done that was so awful? Why was he on the receiving end of so much anger and wrath? All he had done was fall in love, which was not something he had planned or sought.

Love happened. Love came to show you that you could be more than you could ever imagine, because love forced you out of the narrows of yourself and thrust you into a vastness that stretched from one end of time to the other. Nothing mattered except being in the presence of love, the greatest beauty of all.

But he had foolishly thrust Psyche away. Why? Because she had disobeyed him. With sadness he realized that he had acted toward Psyche as Venus was acting toward him. He sought to punish Psyche for disobeying him, just as Venus punished him for disobeying her.

Venus was angry because she had lost control of her relationship with him. How was that different from his anger at Psyche for looking at him? It wasn't. He had not known how much he was like his mother.

That evening when Venus unlocked the door and entered his chambers, she was surprised to see him standing at the far end of the room. She smiled. "Has he finally come to his senses?" she wondered. Was he now going to apologize for how much he had hurt her?

When Cupid heard the door open, he turned to face his mother.

"I have a question for you," he said before she could utter a word.

"Of course, dear."

Cupid walked across the room and stood before her. Venus had never seen such intensity in his eyes. She wasn't sure she liked what she was seeing.

"Why are you so angry?" he asked.

Venus was flustered. "I-I-I'm not angry, dear. I'm hurt."

"Why?"

"Because you disobeyed me. You allowed yourself to become bewitched by my enemy, someone whose beauty threatens to usurp my place in the hearts of mortals."

Cupid laughed softly. "And that's what I don't understand. Since you knew how beautiful she was, why did you send me to her? If you were so afraid of her beauty, why didn't you do everything in your power to make sure I never saw her?"

Venus opened her mouth to speak, then slowly closed it. There was nothing to say. Could it be that she had desired what she claimed she hated? Why had she been so sure Cupid would be immune to Psyche's beauty when she herself had seen that beauty as a threat? She had no answer.

"I must find her. Where is she, Mother? Is she here? What have you done to her?"

Venus turned to walk away, but Cupid grabbed her by the arm and turned her around. "Where is Psyche, Mother?"

"You're hurting me," Venus complained at the tightness of Cupid's grip on her arm.

"And you are hurting me. Where is Psyche?"

Venus looked up at Cupid, tears in her eyes. "Why are you doing this to me?"

"This is not about you. I know you find that hard to believe. But this has nothing to do with you. This is about me."

"But she's a mortal!"

"Like Adonis?"

Venus gasped.

"Is that why you do not want me to love Psy che? You lost Adonis, and now, you do not want me to have happiness."

Venus dropped her head in shame. Was she so selfish that she would deny love to her son because love had been taken from her?

"I sent Psyche to the underworld," she said quietly, her head still down.

"You what?" Cupid exclaimed.

"I sent her to the underworld to get a box of beauty from Proserpine. But ... but I told Proserpine not to put beauty in the box." Venus stopped.

"What did you tell her to put in it?" Cupid demanded to know.

"I told her to fill it with a cloud of death. I told Psyche not to open the box, but I doubt there exists a woman who would not want to take for herself some of what she believes to be divine beauty. When she opens the box, she will be enveloped by a cloud of death."

"Which portal to the underworld did she enter?"

"The one on Taenarus."
Cupid fled—out the door, out of the mansion—and, spreading his wings, flew into the air. He did not know how much time he had, but he knew he had to hurry.

As he left Olympus and entered Earth's sky, Favonius saw him.

"Cupid!"

"Favonius! I need your help. Psyche is in danger and I am afraid I cannot fly fast enough to reach her in time. Will you help me?"

"We all will!" The western wind sent strong currents to the east, north, and south to summon his brothers. Never had all four of them used their powers at the same time, but Favonius knew no other way to get Cupid to Taenarus in time to save Psyche. Favonius did not know if the world could withstand the power of all four winds blowing at the same time, but nothing mattered now except Psyche's life.

The Four Winds went as high into the sky as they could to lessen the effect on Earth. They merged into one great force, and holding on to Cupid, they blew across the heavens. They moved with such power and speed that they tore the blue out of the sky. When Sun saw what was happening, he took blues from all those he collected at the end of each day and hurriedly restored the sky to its rightful color.

Cupid was glad the Four Winds were holding him as tightly as they were. Otherwise he would have been blown clear out of the universe. But in the space between the beat of his heart, Cupid was set down at Taenarus just as the cloud of death billowed out of the box and enveloped Psyche.

Without hesitating Cupid rushed to the cloud. Careful not to enter it himself, he used his wings to push the cloud back into the box. However, a thin layer of the cloud covered Psyche like a veil. Slowly, carefully, Cupid brushed it off and into the box.

Then he kissed Psyche softly on the lips. Her eyes fluttered open and when she saw Cupid's face above hers, she put her arms around his neck and the two held each other as if they would never again let go.

After the Four Winds had disentangled themselves from each other, they picked up Cupid and Psyche. Slowly and majestically, they carried the two across the heavens and through to the other side, where all Olympus waited, the gods and goddesses having witnessed for themselves Cupid's rescue of Psyche from death.

The deities walked in procession behind the two lovers as they made their way to Jupiter's palace, where he waited with Apollo and Venus.

"Welcome!" Jupiter greeted them. "It is a good thing this has happened," he addressed the assembled deities. "We all know of what mischief our Cupid is capable. Indeed, even I have not been exempt from the power of his arrows. Now that he knows for himself what it is to love and to lose that love, perhaps he will use his arrows with more consideration."

Cupid blushed and bowed his head. "Indeed, I will."

"Good! We are all relieved to hear that." Then Jupiter turned to Venus. "You, in your wrath, have disappointed me."

"I am sorry," Venus said softly, her head bowed. "Having loved a mortal and lost him to death, I would ask that my son be spared the same eternal anguish."

"So be it. Bring me the nectar of immortality!"

Mercury appeared with a crystal goblet filled with a shining red liquid.

"Come and drink!" Jupiter said to Psyche.

Psyche drank the nectar. Never had she tasted anything so delicately sweet. Her being glowed with warmth as the drink coursed through her body.

"From this day forward, you are immortal," Jupiter told her. "You and Cupid will have eternity for your love. And now, to the feast prepared in your honors!"

Everyone hurried into the Great Hall of Jupiter's palace and sat at the long table filled with dishes of food. But being deities, they did not eat what mortals ate. They dined on salad of pine breath with starshine dressing, rayof-sunset soup, filet of dawn in a sauce made from the smells of spring, and for dessert, winter custard with cloudberries. Bacchus saw to it that everyone's glasses were always filled with his latest wine made from the flavors of summer.

Then it was time for the formal wedding of Cupid and Psyche. The muses read poetry and played instruments and sang. Apollo played on the lyre a composition of his own making.

Then Jupiter stood before Cupid and Psyche. "I now pronounce you to be married, body to body, and soul to soul, forever and ever."

Cupid took Psyche, not to his palace hidden in the mountains, but to the palace of her mother and father, so she would not be alone during the times he went out to create love among mortals.

Eight months after they were wed, Psyche gave birth to their daughter, whom they named Pleasure.

And so it is when Love and Soul become one.

So it is.

Chapter end