Cupid and Psyche

ve gods. Ceres's young daughter Proserpina was brought to the House of Jupiter for the first t

h is the power of her magic. Those who even speak her name fall under her spell. Those who glimpse her white shoulders and catch the

was born from a tragedy. When Saturn butchered his father, Uranus, with the scythe his mother had given him, he flung th

below her knees and was yellow as daffodils. Waves attended her, bringing her to the island of Cythera. Wherever she stepped, the sand tu

till dripping from the sea as her beautiful brilliant eyes looked about the great t

nd. Her eyes narrowed at the n

e whispered to the King of G

the sea-born maiden as he turned to hi

case," he said. "I announce that Venus is to be married. Ho

break them. This way, he would stand a chance if Venus decided

s, shouting promises, pressing their claims. Earth-shaker Ne

ces, dark surroundings. I offer you variety. Drowned sailors, typhoons, sunsets. I offer you secrets. I offer you riches th

as if to lick up the mountain itself. Poised there, quivering, not breaking, as the gods gasped in awe, the tide lingered until Neptune's hand reached out an

nus. She smiled at

by white swans, and his daughters, the Muses, for her handmaidens. Mercury offered to make her queen of the cross-ways where all must come, wh

ollo and Mercury a

he had been hiding behind the other gods, ashamed to be seen. Vulcan was born because of Juno's jealousy. She was bitter with J

y that the Queen of Gods flung him off Olympus, expecting the child to die. Vulcan survived the fall, and though he

es, he was brought back t

into his ear. "Say exactl

nt, and stood before the radiant woman,

sband for you," he murm

te finger under the chin of the grimy smith, raise

n the goddess of desire and fertility and

te. It was from the war god, Mars. With him, she gave birth to a beautiful daughter just like herself, and she named her Cupid. Growing up, Cupid relished in chaos and the conf

and wide among th

n a strange deep thought afte

ming voice when she noticed her mother's quietness. "I saw you spoke fon

and turned to her ev

I am quite fearful," the goddess said. "Jupiter welcomes new

o soothe away yo

he love goddess. She was crafty with her plots and kn

"My child, my princess, my power, take those sure shafts of yours and sho

rkling eyes

mother?"

upiter himself. You inflicted passion on the Gods of the Sea, Neptune, who rules the Sea. Why should the Queen of Tartarus lag behind

ch of the consequences. As long as the goddess could show what kind o

panion?" she asked with a gli

urnful voice. "And Ceres's daughter Proserpina, if we suffer it, will stay a virgin too, and her fate shall

intrigued by the notion. T

of all her thousand feather-tipped arrows, she selected one, the sharpest and the surest, the arrow mo

't the last o