A certain king had three daughters, each lovelier than the one before. The youngest, whose name was Psyche, was so beautiful that she seemed divine, an earthly goddess. As word of her beauty spread, men began to ignore the temples of Aphrodite, coming instead to worship at Psyche's door.
Aphrodite was not pleased. She summoned Eros.
"Find this girl Psyche," she told her son, "and shoot her with your arrow. Cause her to fall in love with an ugly monster who will have sex with her and destroy her."
Eros found Psyche on a cliff overlooking the sea. Marveling at her beauty as he drew his bow, he carelessly pricked himself with his own arrow. Love for the beautiful girl filled his heart, and he forgot all his mother had told him.
That night Eros swept Psyche away to a palace in a distant valley. There, in the darkness, he made passionate love to her.
"From this night you are to be my bride," he whispered. "You will live in this palace, and all your needs and wishes will be fulfilled. Each night I will come to lie with you in the dark. But you must never look upon my face. If you do, I will leave you."
Psyche stroked her lover's face and said, "yes."
Many months went by. Psyche fell more in love with her husband with each passing hour, but the days were long and lonely. One night she tearfully asked if she might send for her sisters, and Eros didn't have the heart to refuse her.
When the sisters came to visit, they were both shocked at the luxurious life Psyche was living. And when she told them of her wonderful and mysterious partner, bitter envy ate at their hearts.
"You say he is like a god," said one. "I say he must be a monster."
"Of course he is," said the other. "Why else would he hide his face from you?"
Psyche laughed at their words but could not dismiss them from her mind. That night, as her husband lay sleeping, she left the bed and took an oil lamp from the cupboard. Her heart pounded as she lit the lamp and turned, holding it over him. And when the light shone upon her husband, she was completely shocked.
He was the most beautiful creature she had ever seen. His shining hair, his red lips, his beautiful skin, his perfect body--all these told her he was a god. His golden wings told her he was Eros himself.
Slowly she passed the lamp over the sleeping figure, eating with her eyes each line and curve of his body. But as she leaned over to gaze more closely at his face, a drop of hot oil fell upon his shoulder.
Eros sat up and stared in horror at his wife. Then he sighed and shook his head sadly. "Where there is no trust, there can be no love," he said, and flew from the palace, never to return.
Psyche was heartbroken to realize that her own mistrust had cost her the love of her life. She left the palace that night with her head bowed in sorrow, blinded by her own tears. For days she wandered the countryside alone, stopping at shrines of the various gods to pray for a second chance.
When Aprhrodite learned that her son had disobeyed her, and that Psyche was now carrying his child, she was beside herself with rage. Intent on destroying the girl, she called her and assigned her a series of nearly impossible tasks. The last of these was to get a sacred box from Persephone in the Underworld. Psyche somehow made it alive to Hades' dark hell, and Persephone kindly gave her the box. But as she headed back across the River Styx, curiosity got the better of her, and she opened the lid. Out rose a thick cloud of white smoke, and Psyche fell into a deathlike sleep.
All would have ended there, but Eros too had been missing his lost love. Now at last he understood the power of his own arrows. Unable to eat or sleep, he'd grown pale, thin, and weak.
"She's just a human!" Aphrodite told him. "She was destined to die anyway. Forget her, my son, and smile for me again!"
Nothing his mother said could ease the pain in Eros's heart, however. Finally he went to Zeus and begged for help. Zeus merely laughed at first.
"How many problems you have caused me, my boy!" he said. "Now you know how it feels!"
But in the end the King of Heaven was moved by Eros's tears. He agreed to bring Psyche to Olympus and make her immortal, so that the two might be together forever.
The wedding of Eros and Psyche was a joyous occasion for all the gods. At the party, Apollo played the lyre and sang. Hermes and Pan danced with the Muses, and the Seasons threw out flowers. Demeter and Persephone stood arm in arm gossiping and laughing, and even gloomy Hades was seen to smile from time to time. Dionysus opened a bottle of his finest wine, while Hebe and Ganymedes made sure everyone's cup was full. Ares and Aprhodite drank more than their share before finally wandering off, laughing, into the garden. And Zeus and Hera sat side by side on their thrones, holding hands and smiling down upon them all.
Some months later Psyche gave birth to Eros's baby, a beautiful child named Pleasure.