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| Wikimedia Commons: by Diego Delso |
The Crystal Lake
Psyche was exhausted from her trails. She had collapsed onto her course straw bed and immediately fell into a dreamless slumber. Psyche slept soundly, until she woke the next morning, as the tip of the sun broke through the horizon, seeping light across the land. She quickly drank some water and ate a crust of bread to restore her strength, she knew Venus would summon her again soon.
Soon after the girl woke, a raven was sent to fetch Psyche. Psyche followed the raven into the magnificent chamber where Venus resided. The walls were covered in fine oil painting, the ceiling was gilded with gold, and the floors were crafted from the smoothest and purest marble. Venus herself sat at the far end of the room on a plush purple chair gilded with gold, radiating light and beauty. “You have bested the challenges so far, but I have another task for you today” said Venus. “Over the eastern hill you will find a pool of crystal clear water with magical properties. Use this bucket to fill my bath for me. Beware, I will know if you use any other kind of water. Now go!”
Although ferrying the water back and found from beyond the hill would take a lot of work, this task seemed feasible unlike all of the others. Psyche was wary of the task. She knew there was some impossible element of the challenge that she was missing, but as of yet, she was unsure what it was.
When Psyche walked to the other side of the hill, she did not find a pool, only a cliff. She looked down and saw nothing but clouds below. A drop of water hit Psyche where she stood. Psyche looked up, and law a beautiful lake of the clearest more pristine and crystal water she had ever seen. The lake was in the clouds, and water flowed from some of the higher clouds to lower clouds, sprays of mist emerged where the water danced downwards and shattered upon impacting the mirror smooth water located on the lower clouds. Light reflected against the crystal water, rainbow colors spilled out.
Psyche became downcast after seeing the sight. Although it was breathtaking, it was also out of her reach. Without wings she would never reach the clouds, and she would never be able to fetch the water. She looked over the cliff, at least it would be a quick end if she jumped. Before Psyche could do anything, a group of silkworms offered their help. The silkworms worked dutifully for many hours, spinning a rope of silk, so that Psyche could climb up and reach the lake. When the rope was done, a sparrow grabbed one end in his break, flew up, and fastened one end onto the cloud.
Psyche climbed up the rope and filled her bucket with the magical water. She then lowered herself and her bucket back onto the ground, carried the bucket over the hill, and carefully poured the water into a tub, careful not the spill a single drop. Fifteen times she returned to to the lake, and fifteen times she climbed the rope to fill her bucket. The sun was starting to set, and poor Psyche was warry. She poured her last bucket into the tub, filling it to the brink as the last of the daylight departed.
Venus swept into the chamber to inspect the work. “I see the animals helped you to reach the lake,” aid Venus. “Never mind, I will have another task for you tomorrow.” Tired, psyche returned to her bed, collapsed onto the hay and instantly fell into a dreamless sleep.
Bibliography: My story was inspired by Cupid and Psyche, Written by Apuleius and translated by Tony Kline.
Carmen! This was a great story! I also read about Cupid and Psyche and in my story focused more on Psyche and her sisters so I love how you took a different section of the story. Also I think the task you wrote about is very creative. I love how you used silkworms making a rope instead of taking the easy way out and just giving her a bird or something to fly her up there. Venus's outrageous outbursts are very comical to me so I wonder how intense the ending could get with a bigger fit from the great goddess herself! I also wonder how it would have gone if she had help carrying the buckets as well. I bet she could have accomplished the task in no time. I also like how you added the bit about suicidal thoughts because it seemed like in the real story every other page she was thinking about ending it. It was very surprising to me when I first read the original story.
ReplyDeleteWow! This was a wonderful story. I loved all of the detail you used when describing Psyche’s adventure. I could see her looking at the clouds and trying to decide her next move… how scary! I also really enjoyed the picture you used in your post. The picture helped form my imagination around the story.
ReplyDeleteI wonder what would have happened if the animals didn’t help Psyche reach the clouds? Do you think that Psyche could have reached it on her own somehow? After reading your story, I believe that she would have found a way to make it to the water!
I was also wondering what the relationship was between her and Venus. Does Venus not like Psyche? She seemed kind of rude and demanding in the story, so I wasn’t sure how they became friends or what their situation looked like.
Overall, I really enjoyed reading this story! Great work.
This seems like a great way to retell the story without getting bogged down in all the details! Sometimes I feel like I should incorporate all the major points of the story, but your story is a killer example of how sometimes it's easier to just take a tiny slice of the story and recreate it in your own way. Your attention to detail was also great!
ReplyDeleteCarmen I loved this story! Although there were hard trials along the way in the story I thought that overall it was really beautiful. I love that she relies on the animals to help her accomplish her tasks. I especially liked your creativity with the lake in the clouds, and the silk ladder to reach up in the sky. You created great images for the reader to picture. I feel so bad for psyche that she has to do all these hard tasks that Venus giver her each day. It made me wonder why she continues to do them, I’m guessing that it goes into more detail about that in the original story though. If you wanted to you could even create more stories about psyche’s daily tasks and make it your storybook. I though you did a great job with this one, so you might want to think about that as an option. Great story!
ReplyDelete