The day of the wedding had finally arrived. All of the bridesmaids were gathered around the bride to keep her from freaking out. Psyche, who was the most beautiful woman in all the land, was to be wed to a man who people knew very little about. In fact, Psyche had never even seen his face before.
"How am I supposed to marry a man I've never even met before? Yet alone even SEEN before?" Psyche wailed as tears streamed down her face.
For hours, the bridesmaids tried to comfort Psyche and remind her that this was her destiny. Apollo had instructed that Psyche was to be wed up top a mountainside, and that was all he wrote. Her parents were just as upset, if not more, about the entire situation. They couldn't believe they were going to just leave their baby girl in the hands of some mystery guy. But, the god had spoken, and they knew they couldn't disobey.
So, after Psyche had cried every tear and cleaned up her face and dress, the entire wedding party made their journey to the highest hill in the land. Psyche stood hesitantly away from the edge, not knowing what kind of fate awaited her. This was it; there was nothing more she could do than to take the leap of faith and head to the edge of the cliff.
"Okay, Apollo. Here I am. I'm ready to accept the fate. I'm ready to wed. I'm ready to be a wife to this mysterious man," Psyche bravely called out as walked towards the edge, carefully planning each step she took.
The entire wedding party stood at a distance, watching anxiously for something to happen. All of the sudden, a great wind, with the force of something completely out of this world, came rushing over the mountain. The next thing she knew, Psyche was gone! The wind was so powerful, it had actually picked her up off the mountainside. The next 60 seconds were a complete blur to Psyche. She couldn't see or hear a single thing. Where in the world was this freaky wind taking her?
When the wind finally calmed down and the world around her stopped spinning, Psyche began to panic. Her parents, friends, everyone was gone. There was not a single trace of any human touch for miles. Knowing that panic would do her no good, she picked herself up off of the hard soil and began to wander around. Slowly but surely, her nerves began to calm as she walked through field after beautiful field of an array of priceless flowers. Still lost and without a plan, Psyche noticed a beautiful golden gate in the distance. Since she seemed to be completely alone, her natural curiosity told her to approach the gate and checkout what kind of beauty lied inside.
Psyche ran up to the front of the gate, picking up her wedding dress along the way to ensure its safety from the ground. Once at the forefront, a voice from out of nowhere appeared and nearly scared Psyche to death.
"Hello, Psyche. I have been patiently awaiting your arrival. What possibly took you so long? Please, do come in. I can't wait to finally meet you," boomed the enchanted, mysterious voice from nowhere.
Although Psyche was terrified, it seemed as though the only option she had was to enter the palace. The beauty and the magnitude of this palace seemed to be too overwhelming for Psyche. The front foyer was lined with gems of all shapes, sizes, and colors. The handles on each door were studded in diamonds that seemed to sparkle from a mile away. There was something that felt almost magical about the room from the moment Psyche entered the room. As she walked gracefully throughout the palace, beautiful artistic displays from each room caught her attention. The mosaic title floor that lined each and every hallway was a work of art in and of itself.
After she had explored what she thought was every inch of the palace, she was determined to figure out who's voice she had just heard. Almost instantly after thinking it, a shadowy figure appeared from the kitchen. Psyche couldn't make any features of the figure, but she knew it had to be the mysterious man who let her in the castle.
"Psyche, oh my beautiful, beautiful Psyche. You're even more gorgeous standing in the light of the mosaics. I know you are probably wondering who I am and how on earth you ended up here. Well, fear not. I am your husband. Zephyr, god of the west wind, has brought you here upon Apollo's creed. I adore you and we will create a happy life here. Just promise me one thing...you'll never ask to see me. I will be here for you forever, but you are never to see me" boomed the voice from the shadow.
Before Psyche could even reply back, the shadow was gone.
"Okay, weird mystery dude. I guess I will make that promise. I love what you did to the place! I can't wait to stay with you forever!" Psyche decided to call out, knowing that her mysterious husband wasn't here anymore.
The sun had started to set, and Psyche had had an incredibly long day. She knew it was time to turn in, so she wandered the halls until she found a beautiful, king size bed already unmade - ready for her to jump in. Psyche changed out of her wedding dress and nestled into the fluffy, white comforter. Slowly Psyche drifted into a peaceful sleep. She may not know her husband yet, but she knew she wasn't about to let him control her. She had a beautiful palace and a place to lay her head, and that was all she needed - for the time being. Tomorrow was a new day. Psyche was determined to figure out who the mysterious man was, but until then, sleep would have to do.
Author's Note: After a serious spell of writer's block, I finally decided to combine two of the episodes to create this story. The story of Cupid and Psyche is such vast and complex story, so it was imperative to only choose one of the episodes or else the story would have gone on for pages. The two episodes I chose to base my story off of were The Magical Palace and The Mysterious Husband. My story definitely has a bit of a spin to it, but the overlying story is still there. I had to leave some of the details out from the "The Mysterious Husband", but if I could have, I would have rewritten the entire story!
Bibliography: Apuleius's Golden Ass; Translated by Tony Kline (2013).
This was a great version of the story! I also read Cupid and Psyche, so I definitely understand how difficult it was for you to choose just one part of the story. I like how you went into detail about Psyche's emotions and thoughts. The original version of the story leaves much of that unspecified, so it's interesting to see how people fill it in. I liked your use of dialogue and modern-day language to give the story a fresh twist.
ReplyDeleteI think you did an excellent job on paragraph breaks, sentence structure and spelling. Your font choice was easy to read and I didn’t have to change the size or color to make it easier to read. The choice of picture included perfectly fits in with your story. I didn't read the particular story or unit, but I like how you combined the two parts of the story together. You used a lot of descriptive words to show how beautiful the palace and Psyche were in your version. I had this picture in my head of the palace wonderfully adorned with beautiful, sparkly gems. I also like how the story ended leaving the reader wondering if she ever saw her husband. Kind of a cliffhanger ending leaving room for a sequel story.
ReplyDeleteI was hoping he would be this chiseled, immaculate sex god. Technically, he still could be. You left it open-ended. I loved how much suspense you weaved into this story. Where was the wind taking her? Who was her new husband? What did he even look like? I definitely could not have done that if I were her. Getting married in general, especially to a complete stranger, is not my idea of a good time... Thanks for the story!
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