"What a beautiful day in ocean. The sun is shining and the water feels amazing!" thought Venus. "There is nothing that could ruin the day."
But, she thought that a little too soon. Not even five minutes had passed before a messenger came flying at her. The messenger was distraught, which never means it's good news.
"All mighty Venus, there has been an accident." he reported.
"What kind of accident? Is Mars okay? Oh, no is it Hephaestus?" she cried.
"No, my lady, it is Cupid. He has been in an accident. His shoulder is out of use and he currently cannot fly." he reported.
With fear struck deep in her heart, she cried "Whe..Where is my son?"
"He made it to your house before collapsing. Your housemaids are taking care of him now." he reported.
Venus had never fled the ocean so quickly. "My Cupid, my favorite son, how could he have gotten himself into this situation", she thought, "I will never forgive myself if I don't make it in time".
She arrived at the house while he was still conscious. She wrapped him up in a gentle but firm squeeze. In between tears, she expressed how much she loves him.
"Cupid, what happened?" she nosily asked, as mothers tend to do.
"My wife, she burned me. It was an accident but I flew away too soon, I think I may have done more damage than before" he said with exasperated breaths.
With that, her motherly instincts left. "YOUR WHAT?" she exclaimed, "WHO DO YOU THINK IS WORTHY ENOUGH FOR YOU?"
Cupid looked away in shame, for he knew that she would be angry beyond fixing if he told her his bride's name. This is because he was supposed to betroth her to the nastiest, low life in the village. This way Venus would continue to be at the top.
With that glance, her heart dropped, but was soon replaced by anger.
"I want her dead and you cannot try to stop me. You caused this. You betrayed me. Your own mother." she yelled with enough fury to shake the heavens and that was her departing statement. She was on a manhunt. She fled to her closest friends Juno and Ceres. But they were no help. They wanted her to talk about her feelings and try to see things from Cupid's perspective. She didn't want to hear any of it. She was done being the nice goddess. As she turned to find allies elsewhere, Juno touched her arm.
"Venus I think you should reconsider this manhunt you're on" she said delicately as to not further evoke anger.
"Why? No one cared about my feelings in this. Cupid did this despite knowing how it would hurt me, my own flesh and blood" Venus wailed. Again, she turned to leave.
"Venus, she is with child. This is not a fling. This is love. You cannot stop this" Juno, goddess of birth, firmly stated.
That was an addition she had not accounted for. However, it didn't phase Venus for long, as she turned to look both Ceres and Juno in the eyes. She said, "Well I have enough grandchildren" and with that, she left.
"With a bounty on this girl's head, I should have her by midnight" Venus said with a grin.
A picture of Ceres and Juno attempting to calm Venus down, to no avail. Source: Flickr
Author's Notes
The Golden Ass by Apuleius
We enter as Venus has just found out about Cupid's injuries. She is so saddened by his ill state. It is her favorite son. She wants nothing more than to heal and make him feel better. Until she learns he got his injuries from a lady. She demands to know about this girl. When the messenger shares her name, Venus skyrockets. She is livid, beyond livid actually. He fell for the one girl she told him she despised, because she was compared to her as the new Venus in beauty and in spirit. She goes to Juno and Ceres and demands they help her. They try to calm her down because they do not understand why he cannot love who he wants to love. There is a baby involved already and it would be better to be supportive. She will not have it so she sends Mercury on a messenger errand to put a bounty on the young gals head.
Hi Brynlee!
ReplyDeleteThis story is so awesome. It's so well written, and I love how you made it into your own.
My first "wow" moment is how much emotion you put into your writing. The way you put "Whe- Where is my son?", made me really feel the emotion and fear in Cupid's mothers words. I feel like sometimes this is hard to come across through writing, but not in your story at all! I could also feel how upset she was when she got home and embraced him. The part about embracing and talking to him in between tears made me really feel how scared and sad she was.
Another wow moment for me was just a simple line: "she yelled with enough fury to shake the heavens" I really felt this one; especially coming from a mom lol! But the descriptive metaphor really added to the story, again making me feel how angry she was.
This whole story is really descriptive and well written. I look forward to reading your stories in the future!
Hi Brynlee,
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed reading your story because there was great storytelling and imagery. I felt like I was on the same journey as Venus' wavering emotions. The dialogue in your story helps me to really understand her perspective. It almost seemed like Venus was going to end her rage and let her son and his lover be together, but she didn't, in the end. If only her friends could have persuaded her more!
I hope to read more of your stories!
Hi Brynlee!!
ReplyDeleteWhat an interesting story!! I loved it so much principally how you made it your own.
My" wow "moment is how you made those personages so real and alive. There so much emotion in the story. For example, you showed the reaction of cupid's mom after seeing him by using those words " She wrapped him up in a gentle but firm squeeze. In between tears, she expressed how much she loves him. " Those words express so much emotion and feelings. I am impressed on how you could express feelings by using specific words.
I wonder if Venus was able to find cupid's wife and if she did what do you think she was going to do to her?
But overall, this story was very descriptive and i could live the moment just by the words that were well chosen. I look forward to reading more of your stories.
Hi Brynlee!
ReplyDeleteI also read Cupid and Psyche and I loved it. I didn't get to part B so I'm glad i stumbled upon this part!! I really liked the part of the story where we were able to see Venus's reaction to finding out that Cupid has a wife. I'm not sure if you've written a story about cupid and psyche part A, but maybe a little more context as to the backstory given in part A in this story may help readers understand the plot a little more! There are a lot of plot elements that explain why Venus hates Psyche so much, and all of these characters have incredibly complex relationships. I love that this story is a cliffhanger. I wonder what venus is planning on doing to psyche and what she is thinking? will she punish the baby too?
Great job and keep up the good work!!