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The myth of Cupid and Psyche - Brendan Pelsue

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    "Beauty is a curse," Psyche thought
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    as she looked over the cliff's edge
    where she'd been abandoned by her father.
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    She'd been born with the physical
    perfection so complete
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    that she was worshipped as a new
    incarnation of Venus, the goddess of love.
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    But real-life human lovers were
    too intimidated even to approach her.
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    When her father asked for guidance
    from the Oracle of Apollo,
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    the god of light, reason, and prophecy.
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    He was told to abandon his daughter
    on a rocky crag
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    where she would marry a cruel
    and savage serpent-like winged evil.
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    Alone on the crag, Psyche felt
    Zephyr the West Wind
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    gently lifting her into the air.
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    It set her down before a palace.
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    "You are home," she heard
    an unseen voice say.
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    "Your husband awaits you
    in the bedroom, if you dare to meet him."
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    She was brave enough, Psyche told herself.
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    The bedroom was so dark that she
    couldn't see her husband.
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    But he didn't feel serpent-like at all.
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    His skin was soft,
    and his voice and manner were gentle.
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    She asked him who he was,
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    but he told her this was the one question
    he could never answer.
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    If she loved him,
    she would not need to know.
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    His visits continued night after night.
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    Before long, Psyche was pregnant.
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    She rejoiced, but was also conflicted.
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    How could she raise her baby
    with a man she'd never seen?
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    That night, Psyche approached
    her sleeping husband holding an oil lamp.
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    What she found was the god Cupid
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    who sent gods and humans
    lusting after each other
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    with the pinpricks of his arrows.
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    Psyche dropped her lamp,
    burning Cupid with hot oil.
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    He said he'd been in love with Psyche
    ever since his jealous mother, Venus,
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    asked him to embarrass the young woman
    by pricking her with an arrow.
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    But taken with Psyche's beauty, Cupid
    used the arrow on himself.
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    He didn't believe, however, that gods
    and humans could love as equals.
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    Now that she knew his true form,
    their hopes for happiness were dashed,
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    so he flew away.
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    Psyche was left in despair until
    the unseen voice returned
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    and told her that it was indeed possible
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    for her and Cupid
    to love each other as equals.
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    Encouraged, she set out to find him.
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    But Venus intercepted Psyche and said
    she and Cupid could only wed
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    if she completed a series
    of impossible tasks.
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    First, Psyche was told to sort a huge,
    messy pile of seeds in a single night.
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    Just as she was abandoning hope,
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    an ant colony took pity on her
    and helped with the work.
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    Successfully passing the first trial,
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    Psyche next had to bring Venus
    the fleece of the golden sheep,
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    who had a reputation for
    disemboweling stray adventurers,
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    but a river god showed her how to collect
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    the fleece the sheep
    had snagged on briars,
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    and she succeeded.
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    Finally, Psyche had to travel
    to the Underworld
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    and convince Proserpina,
    queen of the dead,
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    to put a drop of her beauty in a box
    for Venus.
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    Once again, the unseen voice came
    to Psyche's aide.
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    It told her to bring barley cakes for
    Cerberus, the guard dog to the Underworld
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    and coins to pay the boatman, Charon
    to ferry her across the river Styx.
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    With her third and final task complete,
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    Psyche returned to the land of the living.
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    Just outside Venus's palace, she opened
    the box of Proserpina's beauty,
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    hoping to keep some for herself.
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    But the box was filled with sleep,
    not beauty,
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    and Psyche collapsed in the road.
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    Cupid, now recovered from his wounds,
    flew to his sleeping bride.
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    He told her he'd been wrong and foolish.
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    Her fearlessness in the face
    of the unknown
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    proved that she was more than his equal.
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    Cupid gave Psyche amborsia, the nectar
    of the gods, making her immortal.
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    Shortly after, Psyche bore their daughter.
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    They named her Pleasure,
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    and she, Cupid, and Psyche,
    whose name means soul,
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    have been complicating people's
    love lives ever since.
Title:
The myth of Cupid and Psyche - Brendan Pelsue
Description:

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Video Language:
English
Team:
closed TED
Project:
TED-Ed
Duration:
05:32

English subtitles

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