The Lamp, the Dagger, and the God Who Fled
A bride is married to darkness itself — forbidden ever to look upon her husband's face. One night, curiosity lights a lamp, and love flies out the window.
In an unnamed city, a king and queen raised three daughters of great beauty, but the youngest, Psyche, was so admired that people began worshipping her in place of Venus herself, some whispering she was the goddess's own daughter born of a scandalous union. Venus, furious at this theft of her honors, summoned her son Cupid and ordered him to make Psyche fall in love with something vile and hideous, a fitting punishment for her stolen glory.
Cupid, however, scratched himself with his own arrow while carrying out his mission, and the weapon that forces any living thing to love the first face it sees turned on its wielder. He fell hopelessly in love with Psyche and defied his mother's command. Meanwhile, Psyche's sisters married, but she remained alone, prompting her father to consult the oracle of Apollo. The answer was terrifying: no mortal husband awaited her, but a dragon-like creature so fearsome that even Jupiter and the powers of the underworld dreaded it.
Dressed as though for her own funeral, Psyche was led in procession to a rocky crag and left exposed to her fate, marriage and death fused into a single passage into the unknown. But instead of a monster, the West Wind, Zephyrus, lifted her gently and carried her to a beautiful meadow, where she fell asleep. Waking beside a cultivated grove, she discovered a magnificent palace with golden columns, ceilings of citrus wood and ivory, and silver walls embossed with animals. A disembodied voice welcomed her, invisible hands served her a feast, and an unseen lyre played for her alone.
That night, in total darkness, an unseen being came to her bed and became her husband. He warned her never to look upon him, and always left before dawn. Fearful at first, Psyche came to cherish his visits, and soon she was pregnant. But her family longed for news of her, and after much pleading, Cupid allowed Zephyrus to bring her sisters for a visit.
Seeing the splendor of Psyche's hidden life, the sisters were consumed with envy. They convinced her that her husband must be the monstrous serpent the oracle had prophesied, and that he intended to devour her and her unborn child. Terrified, Psyche resolved to see him for herself. She hid a dagger and an oil lamp in the bedroom, and one night, once Cupid had fallen asleep, she lit the lamp and raised the blade.
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