Psyche and her sisters
Source: Blogspot
After not seeing her sisters for months, Psyche finally
coaxed her husband into allowing them to visit. Psyche was ecstatic.
She sent Zephyr, God of the West Wind and servant to Psyche's husband, to retrieve them as she prepared for their
arrival. She missed her sisters dearly and wanted everything to be perfect.
She rehearsed her cover story over and over, as she didn’t want to make a
mistake when her sisters started questioning her about her invisible husband.
Though she began to love him dearly, she did not want to betray his trust and respecting his wishes for her not to seek out his identity.
After she had waited for what felt like an eternity, Zephyr finally returned with Psyche’s sisters. When she first saw them,
she began to tear up. She thought she’d never see them again. Her sisters were
also overjoyed to see their sister. The last time they had seen her was at her unfortunate wedding. Until that day, they thought she was dead. They were happy to be proved wrong.
Psyche gave her sisters a tour of her lavish home. They were blown away by the golden floors and jewels all around. Once they saw the
palace, they began to question Psyche about her husband, trying to get as much
information as they could. She remembered the story she had rehearsed earlier that day. “He’s
young and handsome, with just a hint of beard on his face. He spends his days
in the hills, and his nights with me,” she said, attempting to be as convincing as possible, since she herself had no idea what her husband actually looked like.
In order to avoid any more questions, Psyche then redirected
her sisters to the dining hall to enjoy a delicious feast that was prepared for
them. Once they finished the delicious cuisine, Psyche then rushed them out the
door before they could question her farther. Zephyr and the sisters then left Psyche's palace to return home,
while Psyche retreated to her bed.
The sisters requested that Zephyr drop them off at a nearby river so they could wash up before returning home. Zephyr agreed and once the sisters were alone and in private, they began to
discuss what they had just experienced. Both were raging with jealousy of their
younger sister.
“Girl, did you see that place?” asked one sister to another.
“Yup, sure did! How is it that she always gets everything
handed to her on a silver platter while we get the short end of the stick?” the
other replied.
The first sister rolled her eyes. “I know right! She has a
handsome husband, and a palace full of gold and jewels, while we are stuck with
husbands that are past their prime.”
“Ugh, it’s sickening how perfect her life always is. Last
night, my raisin of a husband demanded I rub his arthritis-ridden fingers and then asked me to change his putrid bandages. My delicate hands deserve to be
covered in the finest jewelry, and I deserve a golden palace with silk carpets for my fragile feet to walk
upon. Instead, it’s her, like always,” the second snarled.
“I want to destroy that high horse she is on. I want to ruin
everything she has going for her. I want her to be just as unhappy as we are.
She needs to understand what it’s like to not have everything handed to her.”
“What are we going to do?”
“We’re going to hide that she’s still alive from our
parents. I don’t want to tell them of her lavish life, because they’re just
going to be happy for her, like always. Their precious golden child with the
golden life.”
The sisters agreed, and decided to part ways. They had to return to their homes and husbands before they began to raise suspicions to
their whereabouts.
“We will get together another day and devise a plan for how
we are going to make this as painful as possible. We are going to crush her
world and then she’ll have nothing, and for once we might be considered the golden
children.”
Author's Notes: In the original story, Psyche was married to a man she did not know. He only visited her at night when she could not see his face. After a while, Psyche begins to miss her sisters so she asks if they can come visit. Her husband agrees, but asks her to promise not to let them get to her head and cause her to seek out his identity. So, of course, when her sisters come to visit they ask questions trying to figure out who her husband is. My story fits into the original timeline as the first time her sisters came to visit and realize how good Psyche has it. I tried to change the story to where the sisters were jealous in an over-the-top way. Even though Psyche has never really done any wrong to them and loves them unconditionally, they are jealous of how her life has turned out and they want to ruin it. In the original story, the sisters later visit Psyche, but this time she tells a different story. This was the information the sisters needed to bring Psyche down. They then realized that she had no idea who her husband actually was or what he looked like. They return home and thought of exactly what they were going to say to Psyche. The sisters come back for a third time ready to put their plan into action. They tell Psyche that they know who/what her husband is. They tell her that he is a monstrous serpent with noxious venom that has been seen by hunters and farmers swimming in a nearby river. This news scares Psyche into revealing that she does not know who her husband is and that they must be right about his identity. The sisters convince Psyche to seek out his identity the next time he lays next to her, knowing this would ruin the relationship between their sister and her husband.
Apuleius, The Golden Ass; The Jealousy of Psyche's Sisters
Apuleius, The Golden Ass; The Jealousy of Psyche's Sisters
I really like the approach you took to this. I think it speaks volumes to how society operates today. Psyche always made sure to ONLY showcase the fabulous parts of her life. It reminds me of social media, which is truly more of a highlight reel than an accurate depiction of someone's life in general. Like the sisters observing Psyche in the story, people who view social media can often become overwhelmed in what they believe to be unfair and unearned circumstances, leading jealousy, even though they aren't seeing the whole picture. Overall, great job!
ReplyDeleteHey Melanie! I read this story last week too! I really enjoyed it! When I wrote it, I tried to summarize the whole story which was demanding and made me feel like I missed a lot of important details! I like how you just chose one section of the story to bring up to modern days! I like that you incorporated modern speech and conversation into your story too!
ReplyDeleteWOW: First off, I love the look of your blog! The watercolor background is BEAUTIFUL! In regards to the story I really loved the mystery of it, who was her husband and why was his identity secret? And the description you use for the lavish life Psyche she has always grabs my attention because of all of the jewels!
ReplyDeleteI WONDER: I am not familiar with the original story and so I am left wondering, even though I do like the mystery of it all, who is Zephyr and what is he to Psyche and where is her husband during this dinner as we never really hear him in the story line!
WHAT IF: You could keep the mystery of the story as it is, but in the end of the story be like as the sisters left psyche was so relieved they didn't uncover the truth about her husband...that he was actually blah blah blah and this is the real story. Overall, the story was well written and really kept my attention the entire time!
Melanie, I really enjoyed reading the story. The moral of your story was very clear and consistent throughout the whole story. I also enjoyed how you changed the tone and style of writing from the first part till the second. At the beginning you described the sisters encounter really well and portrayed how much emotion Psyche had because she hasn't seen her sisters and then how happy she was when they arrived. After they met and the sisters returned I felt it was very clear how you tried to portray more of today's type of gossip that goes on between women. It was clear how jealous the sisters were of their sister. I would've thought that after all that they said the sisters would have taken action to whatever thoughts they had. So if I can give you any advice, it is to add an action by the sisters in a way to portray more your theme of choice. Probably that could have been something related to Psyche's husband (a dark secret maybe). Anyways, overall it was a joy to read, good job!
ReplyDeleteI definitely got the point you were trying to get across, about women being catty, it became very clear once the sisters started talking to each other about their visit to Psyche’s palace. It is definitely believable, even for sisters, to be jealous and hateful towards another girl that has done them no wrong. One thing you could do to get that point across earlier in the story is to have a few lines of dialogue between the sisters while they are on the tour of the palace. You could even insert a few backhanded complements towards Psyche from the sisters to show their jealousy boiling over. One thing that isn’t totally clear for me is why exactly Psyche wants to hide the identity of her husband. Is it because she is ashamed of who he is, or is it simply because she cannot reveal his identity. I really enjoyed reading your story!
ReplyDeleteThis definitely seems like the whole "the grass is always greener on the other side" because for her sisters it seems like she has the perfect life and for her at least her sisters can be truthful and know exactly what their life is like. She does not even know what her husband looks like. I wonder why she could not tell them about her husband?
ReplyDeleteHi Melanie! Great story, and I also love the template that you've used for your blog. It's very cute. In the story, I absolutely love your use of dialogue among the sisters. The dialogue gives a great insight to their would. I wonder what happens after the story is finished... how do you convince your parents that your sister is dead? Wouldn't they feel just a little bit guilty about that? how do they cope after? And Psyche... She's already broken because she doesn't know what her husband even looks like and now her parents will never come and see her. That would be really hard to handle. It's really awful that family members would do such a thing. And if/when Psyche finds out, how would she feel? This is a very cold thing to do to family members. She would definitely be the golden child then. The sisters could have been happy for her and been a part of her lavish lifestyle, but instead they are shunning their poor sister.
ReplyDeleteWow! You really have such a wonderful writing style. I am very impressed with your ability to articulate to an audience. It’s not always easy when we are writing about stories that are usually so unfamiliar to us.
ReplyDeleteI wonder…a little more about the relationship between the two sisters. You did such a great job but there is an opportunity to dig a little deeper so the readers can better gain an understanding about the emotion, passion and jealousy between them.
What if…”the man the sister did not know” was incorporated a little more heavily in the suspense aspect of your story. I think you have an incredible basis and storyline and so many opportunities to dig a little deeper and engage the readers. You really did such a great job and overall I enjoyed the read. You have a great and rare ability to capture the attention of your audience!
Hello Melanie! This is my first time making my way to your page and reading one of your stories, my what a first impression. The story is well written and provides a quality level of enjoyment to me as the reader as I make my way through the story. I have developed a habit of first reading the author’s note when I have no prior experience with the original source material for the story. Your author’s note is well written and explains the original source material well enough for me to get a good feeling about what to expect from the story. A suggestion maybe for you to potentially add another image to the story toward the end, just to provide more of a visual representation of what is occurring at that moment in the story arch. Overall I really enjoyed the story and will surely be back to see what changes and advancements you decide to make in the story development.
ReplyDeleteI thought your telling of Psyche and Cupid’s story was interesting especially hearing the sister’s conversation in such a modern dialogue. It made the story seem more modern than the original, but I enjoyed it if it was intentional or not. When I read Psyche and Cupid’s love story, I was always frustrated with the sisters. It always seems that women are portrayed as jealous and awful characters in Roman or Greek mythology - especially over silly reasons. Your story recaptured that feeling for me, so kudos! I think you did really well conveying the theme here in your story.
ReplyDeleteWhat if you included dialogue between the envious sisters while Psyche was hosting them? I think you could drive your theme here as well with certain wording and phrases to express fake relief/graciousness. Or if you had switched it up, and wrote Zephyr hiding to see what the women would be up to after leaving his master’s home. Even though their deaths in the original were satisfying, I wonder how it would be different if Zephyr had stayed and then reported back to Cupid or at least Psyche to warn them of their treachery.
Hi Melanie,
ReplyDeleteI think you did a nice job with writing your story. For one of my weekly assignments, I also read this story. What if you changed a little more from the original story to make it even more so your own? Perhaps the characters' names or even the ending more? Again, you did a nice job writing the story, but I felt as if there could have been even more details changed as to make it your own. I for one, enjoy the original story, and how Psyche trusts her husband although she cannot see him. I did find it interesting though that you chose in enhance/upgrade the jealousy the sisters portrayed, especially with their decision to not even tell the parents how happy Psyche was. I think it just adds to their overall jealousy from the original story, and I honestly, would have liked to have seen more of this in the story to really add to the theme of jealousy.
Hey Melanie, I really enjoyed reading your story. I think you did a great job giving insight into what you read and how you used that as the foundation for your story in the author's note. I wasn't familiar with the story, so it really helped me understand where you were coming from after I read the author's note. It seems like in your story, there is some similarity to Cinderella (with the sisters not liking Psyche even though she hasn't done anything wrong to them).
ReplyDeleteI wonder if you will continue this story further? The sisters promised a devilish plan they wanted to set against Psyche. I am very curious as to how that will play out. Maybe you could have Zephyr finally reveal his identity in order to save Psyche from the threats from her sisters. There are a lot of different routes you could take, but I will be on the lookout just incase you do decide to add to this story. Overall, it was a great story! Keep it up!
Hi Melanie! I think you did a really great job on your story. I thought the plot was very entertaining and the way you modernized it made it really fun to read. I like the way you used detail to describe how beautiful the palace was. I was very shocked by the fact Psyche doesn't even know what her husband looks like. I have never read the original story, so I definitely didn't expect that. Since I was a little confused by the concept, I think you could elaborate a little more when explaining the reason she doesn't know what her husband looks like. I guess she must really love him for who he is as a person if married him without knowing what he looks like! I think your story was accurate when the sisters get jealous of Psyche's lifestyle. Girls can be so cruel and it's sad how their reaction to their sister's happiness was to sabotage her. The ending of the story definitely had me wondering what they were going to come up with to ruin her life. I think a sequel for this story would be awesome. Great job!!
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