Week 3 Story: Bedtime Story

Author’s Note:

This story was inspired by the telling of "Cupid and Psyche" within the "Apuleiu's Golden Ass" translated by Tony Kline. In the original, the story of Cupid and Psyche is told by an old woman to a young girl who has been kidnapped by thieves the old woman works with. This way it is a story within a story. Similarly, I have included a condensed version of the story of Cupid and Psyche within this story about a mom and a daughter as a bedtime story. Here the mom is telling the story to the daughter, but she only gets half way through it before the daughter falls asleep where in the Golden Ass, the old woman finishes the tale. In the full story, Psyche goes on to betray Cupid, be tortured by Venus, and eventually be reunited with Cupid and made immortal. That seemed like a lot for a bedtime story so that is why this story only includes the first half.

Jane checked on her daughter Molly as she was getting ready for bed. As Jane leaned on the doorway she saw Molly brushing her teeth and humming some made up song. When Molly saw Jane standing there she finished up brushing, jumped down from the step stool in front of the sink, and ran to hug Jane. Looking up at Jane with a sweet smile, Molly asked, “Will you tell me a story before bed?” Jane, feigning indecision replied, “I don’t know sweetie. It is getting late. There might not be time for a story tonight.” Not quite understanding the joke, Molly starts to plead with her mother, “Please momma? I’ll go to bed extra early tomorrow if you’ll tell me a story tonight.” Never intending to withhold the bedtime story, Jane relented.

Once Molly was settled in bed, Jane sat down next to her and began to tell her the story of Cupid and Psyche. The story went something like this:

Once there was a girl named Psyche, so beautiful that all the people that saw her were convinced she was the goddess of love, Venus. Soon everyone but a few believed that she truly was Venus and began to worship her as such. Hearing this and becoming very angry that a human was being worshiped in her place, Venus told her son Cupid to make Psyche fall in love and marry a terrible creature. When a prophecy foretold Psyche’s unfortunate marriage, she and her parents accepted the terrible fate and Psyche was left alone on a hill top for the creature to come and claim. But, when Cupid came to make Psyche fall in love he was captivated by her beauty and instead fell in love with her himself and swept her away to a fancy palace where they lived happily for a while.

Stopping to take a breath and remember the rest of the story, Jane looked over at Molly. She was already fast asleep. Quietly, Jane got up and shut out the light. The rest of the story would have to wait until tomorrow.

Bibliography: 

Cupid and Psyche from Apuleiu's Golden Ass, Translated by Tony Kline
Picture of a Bed and Book via pixabay by Pexels