NOTRE DAME OF TRECE MARTIREZ

GRADE LEVEL: 11
SUBJECT: 21ST CENTURY LITERATURE FROM THE QUARTER: 4
PHILIPPINES AND THE WORLD WEEK: 3-4
TOPIC: GREEK MYTHOLOGY LESSON: 2
LESSON 1: The Story of Love and Adventure in Greek
Mythology Cupid and Psyche

CONTENT STANDARD
The learner will be able to understand and appreciate literary texts in various
genres across world literature and cultures.
PERFORMANCE STANDARDS:
The learner will be able to demonstrate understanding and appreciation of 21 st
Century Philippine Literature from the Regions through:
A written close analysis and critical interpretation of a literary text.
An adaptation of a text into other creative form using multimedia.
MOST ESSENTIAL LEARNING COMPETENCY:
Writing a close analysis and critical interpretation of a literary text.
Compare and contrast the various 21st century literary genres.
Produce a creative representation of a literary text by applying multimedia and
ICT skills.
Do self – assessment and/or peer – assessment of the creative adaptation of a
literary text.

THE STORY OF LOVE AND ADVENTURE IN GREEK MYTHOLOGY

Cupid and Psyche
by Edith Hamilton

This story is told only by Apuleius, a Latin writer of the second century A.D. The Latin names of
the gods are therefore used. It is a prettily told tale, after the manner of Ovid. 1M writer is
entertained by what he writes; he believes none of it.
.
There was once a king who had three daughters, all lovely maidens, but the youngest, Psyche,
excelled her sisters so greatly that beside them she seemed a very goddess consorting with
mere mortals. The fame of her surpassing beauty spread over the earth, and everywhere men
journeyed to gaze upon her with wonder and adoration and to do her homage as though she
were in truth one of the immortals. They would even say that Venus herself could not equal this
mortal. As they thronged in ever growing numbers to worship her loveliness no one any more
gave a thought to Venus herself. Her temples were neglected; her altars foul with cold ashes; her
favorite towns deserted and falling in ruins. All the honors once hers were now given to a mere
girl destined someday to die.
.
It may well be believed that the goddess would not put up with this treatment as always when
she was in trouble, she turned for help to her son, that beautiful winged youth whom some call
Cupid and others Love, against whose arrows there is no defense. neither in heaven nor on the
earth. She told him her wrongs and as always, he was ready to do her bid- ding. "Use your
power,” she said, "and make the hussy fall madly in love with the vilest and most despicable
creature there is in the whole world." And so no doubt he would have done, if Venus had not first
shown him Psyche, never think- ing in her jealous rage what such beauty might do even to the
God of Love himself. As he looked upon her it was as if he bad shot one of his arrows into his own
heart. He said nothing to his mother, indeed he bad no power to utter a word, and Venus left him
with the happy confidence that he would swiftly bring about Psyche's ruin.
.
What happened, however, was not what she had counted on. Psyche did not fall in love with a
horrible wretch, she did not fall in love at all. Still more strange, no one fell in love with her. Men
were content to look and wonder and worship—and then pass on to marry someone else. Both
her sisters, inexpressibly inferior to her, were splendidly married, each to a king. Psyche, the all-
beautiful, sat sad and solitary, only admired, never loved. It seemed that no man wanted her.
.
This was, of course, most disturbing to her parents. Her father finally traveled to an oracle of
Apollo to ask his advice on how to get her a good husband. The god answered him, but his words
 NOTRE DAME OF TRECE MARTIREZ
were terrible. Cupid had told him the whole story and had begged for his help. Accordingly,
Apollo said that Psyche, dressed in deepest mourning. must be set on the summit of a rocky hill
and left alone, and that there her destined husband, a fearful winged serpent, stronger than the
gods themselves, would come to her and make her his wife.
.
The misery of all when Psyche's rather brought back this lamentable news can be imagined.
They dressed the maiden as though for her death and carried her to the hill with greater
sorrowing than if it had been to her tomb. But Psyche herself kept her courage. "You should have
wept for me be- fore," she told them, “Because of the beauty that has drawn down upon me the
jealousy of Heaven. Now go, knowing that I am glad the end has come.” They went in despairing
grief, leaving the lovely helpless creature to meet her doom alone, and they shut themselves in
their palace to mourn all their days for her.
.
On the high hilltop in the darkness Psyche sat, waiting for she knew not what terror. There, as
she wept and trembled, a soft breath of air came through the stillness to her, the gentle
breathing of Zephyr, sweetest and mildest of winds. She felt it lift her up. She was floating away
from the rocky hill and down until she lay upon a grassy meadow soft as a bed and fragrant with
flowers. It was so peaceful there. all her trouble left her and she slept. She woke beside a bright
river; and on its bank was a mansion stately and beautiful as though built for a god, with pillars
of gold and walls of silver and floors inlaid with precious stones. No sound was to be heard; the
place seemed deserted and Psyche drew near, awestruck at the sight of such splendor. As she
hesitated on the thresh- old, voices sounded in her ear. She could see no one, but the words they
spoke came clearly to her. The house was for her, they told her. She must enter without fear and
bathe and re fresh herself. Then a banquet table would be spread for her. "We are your
servants," the voices said, "ready to do whatever you desire."
.
The bath was the most delightful, the food the most delicious, she had ever enjoyed. While she
dined, sweet music breathed around her: a great choir seemed to sing to a harp, but she could
only hear, not see, them. Throughout the day, except for the strange companionship of the
voices, she was alone, but in some inexplicable way she felt sure that with the coming of the
night her husband would be with her. And so, it happened. When she felt him beside her and
heard his voice softly murmuring in her ear, all her fears left her. She knew without seeing him
that here was no monster or shape of terror, but the lover and husband she had longed and
waited for.
.
This half-and-half companionship could not fully content her; still she was happy and the time
passed swiftly. One night, however, her dear though unseen husband spoke gravely to her and
warned her that danger in the shape of her two sisters was approaching. "They are coming to the
hill where you disappeared, to weep for you," he said; "but you must not let them see you or you
will bring great sorrow upon me and ruin to yourself." She promised him she would not, but all
the next day she passed in weeping, thinking of her sisters and herself unable to comfort them.
She was still in tears when her husband came and even his caresses could not check them. At
last, he yielded sorrowfully to her great desire. "Do what you will," he said, "but you are seeking
your own destruction." Then he warned her solemnly not to be persuaded by anyone to try to
see him, on pain of being separated from him forever. Psyche cried out that she would never do
so. She would die a hundred times over rather than live without him. "But give me this joy," she
said: "to see my sisters." Sadly, he promised her that it should be so.
.
The next morning the two came, brought down from the mountain by Zephyr. Happy and
excited, Psyche was waiting for them. It was long before the three could speak to each other;
their joy was too great to be expressed except by tears and embraces. But when at last they
entered the palace and the elder sisters saw its surpassing treasures; when they sat at the rich
banquet and heard the marvelous music, bitter envy took possession of them and a devouring
curiosity as to who was the lord of all this magnificence and their sister's husband. But Psyche
kept faith; she told them only that he was a young man, away now on a hunting expedition. Then
filling their hands with gold and jewels, she had Zephyr bear them back to the hill. They went
willingly enough, but their hearts were on fire with jealousy. All their own wealth and good
fortune seemed to them as nothing compared with Psyche's, and their envious anger so worked
in them that they came finally to plotting how to ruin her.
.
That very night Psyche's husband warned her once more. She would not listen when he begged
her not to let them come again. She never could see him, she reminded him. Was she also to be
forbidden to see all others, even her sisters so dear to her? He yielded as before, and very soon
the two wicked women arrived, with their plot carefully worked out.

Already, because of Psyche's stumbling and contradictory answers when they asked her what
her husband looked like, they had become convinced that she had never set eyes on him and did
 NOTRE DAME OF TRECE MARTIREZ
not really know what he was. They did not tell her this, but they reproached her for hiding her
terrible state from them, her own sisters. They had learned, they said, and knew for a fact, that
her husband was not a man, but the fearful serpent Apollo's oracle had declared he would be. He
was kind now, no doubt, but he would certainly turn upon her some night and devour her.
.
Psyche, aghast, felt terror flooding her heart instead of love. She had wondered so often why he
would never let her see him. There must be some dreadful reason. What did she really know
about him? If he was not horrible to look at, then he was cruel to forbid her ever to behold him.
In extreme misery, faltering and stammering, she gave her sisters to understand that she could
not deny what they said, because she had been with him only in the dark. "There must be
something very wrong," she sobbed, "for him so to shun the light of day." And she begged them
to advise her.
.
They had their advice all prepared beforehand. That night she must hide a sharp knife and a
lamp near her bed. When her husband was fast asleep, she must leave the bed, light the lamp,
and get the knife. She must steel herself to plunge it swiftly into the body of the frightful being
the light would certainly show her. "We will be near," they said, "and carry you away with us
when he is dead."
.
Then they left her torn by doubt and distracted what to do. She loved him; he was her dead
husband. No; he was a horrible serpent and she loathed him. She would kill him— She would not.
She must have certainty— She did not want certainty. So, all day long her thoughts fought with
each other. When evening came, however, she had given the struggle up. One thing she was
determined to do: she would see him.
.
When at last he lay sleeping quietly, she summoned all her courage and lit the lamp. She tiptoed
to the bed and holding the light high above her she gazed at what lay there. Oh, the relief and
the rapture that filled her heart. No monster was revealed, but the sweetest and fairest of all
creatures, at whose sight the very lamp seemed to shine brighter. In her first shame at her folly
and lack of faith, Psyche fell on her knees and would have plunged the knife into her own breast
if it had not fallen from her trembling hands. But those same unsteady hands that saved her
betrayed her, too, for as she hung over him, ravished at the sight of him and unable to deny
herself the bliss of filling her eyes with his beauty, some hot oil fell from the lamp upon his
shoulder. He started awake: he saw the light and knew her faithlessness, and without a word he
fled from her.
.
She rushed out after him into the night. She could not see him, but she heard his voice speaking
to her. He told her who he was, and sadly bade her farewell. "Love cannot live where there is no
trust," he said, and flew away. 'The God of Love!" she thought. "He was my husband, and I,
wretch that I am, could not keep faith with him. Is he gone from me forever? At any rate," she
told herself with rising courage, "I can spend the rest of my life searching for him. If he has no
more love left for me, at least I can show him how much I love him." And she started on her
journey. She had no idea where to go; she knew only that she would never give up looking for
him. He meanwhile had gone to his mother's chamber to have his wound cared for, but when
Venus heard his story and learned that it was Psyche whom he had chosen, she left him angrily
alone in his pain, and went forth to find the girl of whom he had made her still more jealous.
Venus was determined to show Psyche what it meant to draw down the displeasure of a goddess.
.
Poor Psyche in her despairing wanderings was trying to win the gods over to her side. She
offered ardent prayers to them perpetually, but not one of them would do anything to make
Venus their enemy. At last, she perceived that there was no hope for her, either in heaven or on
earth, and she took a desperate resolve. She would go straight to Venus; she would offer herself
humbly to her as her servant, and try to soften her anger. "And who knows," she thought, "if he
him- self is not there in his mother's house." So, she set forth to find the goddess who was
looking everywhere for her. When she came into Venus' presence the goddess laughed aloud
and asked her scornfully if she was seeking a husband since the one, she had had would have
nothing to do with her because he had almost died of the burning wound, she had given him.
"But really," she said, "you are so plain and ill- favored a. girl that you will never be able to get
you a lover except by the most diligent and painful service. I will there- fore show my good will to
you by training you in such ways." With that she took a great quantity of the smallest of the
seeds, wheat and poppy and millet and so on, and mixed them all together in a heap. "By
nightfall these must all be sorted," she said. "See to it for your own sake." And with that she
departed.

Psyche, left alone, sat still and stared at the heap. Her mind was all in a maze because of the
cruelty of the command; and, indeed, it was of no use to start a task so manifestly impossible.
But at this direful moment she who had awakened no compassion in mortals or immortals was
 NOTRE DAME OF TRECE MARTIREZ
pitied by the tiniest creatures of the field, the little ants, the swift- runners. They cried to each
other, "Come, have mercy on this poor maid and help her diligently." At once they came, waves
of them, one after another, and they labored separating and dividing, until what had been a
confused mass lay all ordered, every seed with its kind. This was what Venus found when she
came back, and very angry she was to see it. "Your work is by no means over," she said. Then
she gave Psyche a crust of bread and bade her sleep on the ground while she herself went off to
her soft, fragrant couch. Surely if she could keep the girl at hard labor and half starve her, too,
that hateful beauty of hers would soon be lost. Until then she must see that her son was securely
guarded in his chamber where he was still suffering from his wound. Venus was pleased at the
way matters were shaping.
.
The next morning she devised another task for Psyche, this time a dangerous one. "Down there
near the riverbank," she said, "where the bushes grow thick, are sheep with fleeces of gold. Go
fetch me some of their shining wool." When the worn girl reached the gently flowing stream, a
great longing seized her to throw herself into it and end all her pain and despair. But as she was
bending over the water, she heard a little voice from near her feet, and looking down saw that it
came from a green reed. She must not drown herself, it said. Things were not as bad as that. The
sheep were indeed very fierce, but if Psyche would wait until they came out of the bushes toward
evening to rest beside the river, she could go into the thicket and find plenty of the golden wool
hanging on the sharp briars.
.
So spoke the kind and gentle reed, and Psyche, following the directions, was able to carry back
to her cruel mistress a quantity of the shining fleece. Venus received it with an evil smile.
"Someone helped you," she said sharply. "Never did you do this by yourself. However, I will give
you an opportunity to prove that you really have the stout heart and the singular prudence you
make such a show of. Do you see that black water which falls from the hill yonder? It is the
source of the terrible river which is called hateful, the river Styx. You are to fill this flask from it."
That was the worst task yet, as Psyche saw when she approached the waterfall. Only a winged
creature could reach it, so steep and slimy were the rocks on all sides, and so fearful the onrush
of the descending waters. But by this time, it must be evident to all the readers of this story (as,
perhaps, deep in her heart it had become evident to Psyche herself) that although each of her
trials seemed impossibly hard, an excellent way out would always be provided for her. This time
her savior was an eagle, who poised on his great wings beside her, seized the flask from her with
his beak and brought it back to her full of the black water.
.
But Venus kept on. One cannot but accuse her of some stupidity. The only effect of all that had
happened was to make her try again. She gave Psyche a box which she was to carry to the
underworld and ask Proserpine to fill with some of her beauty. She was to tell her that Venus
really needed it, she was so worn-out from nursing her sick son. Obediently as always Psyche
went forth to look for the road to Hades. She found her guide in a tower she passed. It gave her
careful directions how to get to Proserpine's palace, first through a great hole in the earth, then
down to the river of death, where she must give the ferryman, Charon, a penny to take her
across. From there the road led straight to the palace. Cerberus, the three-headed dog, guarded
the doors, but if she gave him a cake, he would be friendly and let her pass.
.
All happened, of course, as the tower had foretold. Proserpine was willing to do Venus a service,
and Psyche, greatly encouraged, bore back the box, returning far more quickly than she had
gone down.
.
Her next trial she brought upon herself through her curiosity and, still more, her vanity. She felt
that she must see what that beauty-charm in the box was; and, perhaps, use a little of it herself.
She knew quite as well as Venus did that her looks were not improved by what she had gone
through, and always in her mind was the thought that she might suddenly meet Cupid. If only
she could make herself more lovely for him! She was unable to resist the temptation; she opened
the box. To her sharp disappointment she saw nothing there; it seemed empty. Immediately,
however, a deadly languor took possession of her and she fell into a heavy sleep.
.
At this juncture the God of Love himself stepped forward. Cupid was healed of his wound by now
and longing for Psyche. It is a difficult matter to keep Love imprisoned. Venus had locked the
door, but there were the windows. All Cupid had to do was to fly out and start looking for his
wife. She was lying almost beside the palace, and he found her at once. In a moment he had
wiped the sleep from her eyes and put it back into the box. Then waking her with just a prick
from one of his arrows, and scolding her a little for her curiosity, he bade her take Proserpine's
box to his mother and he assured her that all thereafter would be well.

While the joyful Psyche hastened on her errand, the god flew up to Olympus. He wanted to make
certain that Venus would give them no more trouble, so he went straight to Jupiter himself. The
 NOTRE DAME OF TRECE MARTIREZ
Father of Gods and Men consented at once to all that Cupid asked—"Even though," he said, "you
have done me great harm in the past—seriously injured my good name and my dignity by
making me change myself into a bull and a swan and so on. . .. However, I cannot refuse you."
.
Then he called a full assembly of the gods, and announced to all, including Venus, that Cupid and
Psyche were formally married, and that he proposed to bestow immortality upon the bride.
Mercury brought Psyche into the palace of the gods, and Jupiter himself gave her the ambrosia to
taste which made her immortal. This, of course, completely changed the situation. Venus could
not object to a goddess for her daughter-in-law; the alliance had become eminently suitable. No
doubt she reflected also that Psyche, living up in heaven with a husband and children to care for,
could not be much on the earth to turn men's heads and interfere with her own worship.
.
So all came to a most happy end. Love and the Soul (for that is what Psyche means) had sought
and, after sore trials, found each other; and that union could never be broken.
.
source: http://www.freewebs.com/mythosnet/6_cupid.html

21ST Century Literature from the Philippines and the World

Name: ________________________________________ Week: 3-4
Strand and Section: _____________________________ Teacher:
______________________________
QUIZ 2:
Direction: Using the story below answer the following questions. (2 points each)
1. Who is Psyche?
____________________________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________
2. Why did Eros make himself invisible to Psyche?
____________________________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________
3. What did Psyche’s sister tell her about Eros? Is it true? Defend your answer.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________
4. How did Eros save Psyche from her sleep?
____________________________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________
5. What did Zeus do for Psyche?
____________________________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________

PERFORMANCE TASK 2:
Direction: Create a poster that represent one of the scenes in the story of Love and Adventure
in the Greek Mythology Cupid and Psyche those marks on your mind. Present an explanation
regarding your chosen scene. Your output will be graded using the Rubrics below:
Relevance 40%
Originality 30%
Representation 20%
Neatness 10 %
Total: 100%