Cupid & Psyche !

There is a very interesting story in Greek mythology from where the term “Love is blind” originates. It’s the story of Cupid (the god of love) and Psyche.

First Version :

Psyche was the most beautiful woman in her land and men came to catch a glimpse of her from far away lands, this enraged Aphrodite, the goddess of Beauty and the mother of Cupid as people used to once come to her temple in such large numbers but now Psyche was getting all the attention. So she asked her son to use one of his arrows to make her fall in love with the ugliest man in the realm. Cupid being an obedient son, went to shoot an arrow at Psyche as he spotted her looking at the ugliest man in the crowd outside her house, but the moment he noticed her face, he dropped the arrow which fell on his foot and made him fall in love with her. But he couldn’t marry her because that would enrage his mother and well, also because he was a god and she was a mortal!

Meanwhile, Psyche’s father was worried because everyone wanted to look at Psyche or meet her but no man wanted to marry her (well because, men!) so he went to Zeus’ temple for advice. Zeus decided to play Cupid’s wingman, so the oracle told Psyche’s father that she was fated to marry a demon and he was supposed to drop her at a mountain peak on a moonless night so that the demon could take her away to his land. He freaked out a little but after a lot of emotional drama he left her at the mountain for her destined husband to pick her up. She obviously couldn’t see who he was because it was dark, he took her to a palace above clouds which was again totally dark.

He explained the rules of their marriage to her that since he’s a demon(self-conscious one), he doesn’t wish for her to see him, so he would only visit her at night when all the lights are out and leave before sunrise. She also couldn’t make any contact with her family (control freak demon) and during the day, invisible servants would take care of all her needs. He also told her that he would leave her if she ever tries to see his face. Win win for Cupid!

So night after night he visited her and she obviously got a feeling that he’s not a demon but hiding something else (because you know, he felt like a person probably with decent enough features) and she also got bored in the lonely palace, so she coaxed him one day to let her talk to her sisters and allow them to visit. So they came, got a little jealous of her palace and her demon husband who was surprisingly very caring. They told her to hold a lamp over his face when he falls asleep that night to see how he looks. So she did exactly that, knowing well that he would leave her if she’s caught because she just had to know what he was hiding. She realized that he was Cupid, the most handsome god and not an ugly demon. Win win for Psyche!

But cupid woke up and startled her, making the hot oil from the lamp fall into his eyes. He got really angry with her for breaking her promise and spilling oil in his eyes and he left, despite everything she tried.

Psyche tracked cupid down and found that he was living with his mom, who obviously didn’t like her and thus instead of saying no to her, she promised that she would allow her to see Cupid if she completes a bunch of impossible tasks, just to toy with her ! Out of love and desperation, she accomplishes everything and gets to see Cupid and discovers that he is blind because of her oil spill. Long story short, he forgives her, family matters to sort out and they live happily ever after.

Cupid found love himself but he is blind now so he runs around hitting anyone with arrows at any time and sometimes he forgets to hit the other person altogether ! Thus love is blind shouldn’t be translated in the romantic sense that people don’t care about looks but in the sense that love is chaotic madness and the person who once brought soul mates together is running around blind with love arrows !

Second Version :

A king and queen had three daughters of whom the youngest, Psyche, was so beautiful that the kingdom worshiped her as a deity. The oracle of Apollo instructed her father to sacrifice Psyche on a nearby mountain, as prey to a dragon, for he was told to hope for no human son-in-law. Meanwhile, Venus, the Goddess of Love, grew jealous of Psyche’s beauty and ordered her son Cupid to afflict the girl with a desire for only the most base of men (this gives Cupid’s “arrows” a whole different point!). Cupid left with intent to thus strike the sacrificed virgin, when, upon seeing her, he fell in love with her himself. Cupid had her carried off by the West Wind (Zephyrus) to his secretly prepared palace. There, he visited her by night and they consummated their love, but he forbade her to see his face. When she longed to see her two sisters, he reluctantly allowed them to visit. The sisters, envious of Psyche’s situation, plotted to destroy her happiness by convincing her to take a covered lamp and knife into her bedroom that night. When he sleeps, they instructed her, she was to take the light and look at the monster in her bed – and then stab it to death. The young and gullible Psyche agreed to the plan, but when she beheld her lover in the light, she was so surprised by the sleeping god’s beauty, and so overwhelmed by her love for him, that she refrained from killing him, though a drop of hot oil from her lamp fell on his shoulder and woke him. Startled awake, Cupid spread his shining wings, reproached her, and disappeared.

Heartbroken, Psyche was forced to wander, a wretched slave to several seemingly impossible tasks inflicted on her by Venus, but which she manages to complete with magical help from the natural world (for instance, she sorts seeds with the help of ants – rings a bit of Rumpelstiltskin or feats of Hercules). The final task involves visiting the underworld and bringing back up, intact, the beauty of Persephone, the Queen of the Dead. As with all the tasks, Psyche obeys, but this time at the very last moment she succumbs to curiosity and opens the box (how very Pandora of her). A deep sleep falls over her. Our pity for Psyche reaches its height, as we now know, too, she is truly contrite, utterly wretched, seemingly beyond hope … and pregnant with Cupid’s child.

Just when things are bleakest, Cupid returns to Psyche and forgives her. He has interceded with Jupiter, who agrees for them to marry and renders Psyche a true goddess. She is reconciled to Venus, and they all live happily ever after.