The myth of Cupid and Psyche - Brendan Pelsue

10,059,213 views ・ 2017-08-03

TED-Ed


Please double-click on the English subtitles below to play the video.

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"Beauty is a curse," Psyche thought
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as she looked over the cliff's edge where she'd been abandoned by her father.
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She'd been born with the physical perfection so complete
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that she was worshipped as a new incarnation of Venus, the goddess of love.
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But real-life human lovers were too intimidated even to approach her.
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When her father asked for guidance from the Oracle of Apollo,
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the god of light, reason, and prophecy.
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He was told to abandon his daughter on a rocky crag
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where she would marry a cruel and savage serpent-like winged evil.
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Alone on the crag, Psyche felt Zephyr the West Wind
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gently lifting her into the air.
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It set her down before a palace.
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"You are home," she heard an unseen voice say.
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"Your husband awaits you in the bedroom, if you dare to meet him."
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She was brave enough, Psyche told herself.
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The bedroom was so dark that she couldn't see her husband.
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But he didn't feel serpent-like at all.
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His skin was soft, and his voice and manner were gentle.
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She asked him who he was,
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but he told her this was the one question he could never answer.
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If she loved him, she would not need to know.
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His visits continued night after night.
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Before long, Psyche was pregnant.
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She rejoiced, but was also conflicted.
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How could she raise her baby with a man she'd never seen?
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That night, Psyche approached her sleeping husband holding an oil lamp.
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What she found was the god Cupid
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who sent gods and humans lusting after each other
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with the pinpricks of his arrows.
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Psyche dropped her lamp, burning Cupid with hot oil.
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He said he'd been in love with Psyche ever since his jealous mother, Venus,
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asked him to embarrass the young woman by pricking her with an arrow.
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But taken with Psyche's beauty, Cupid used the arrow on himself.
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He didn't believe, however, that gods and humans could love as equals.
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Now that she knew his true form, their hopes for happiness were dashed,
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so he flew away.
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Psyche was left in despair until the unseen voice returned
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and told her that it was indeed possible
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for her and Cupid to love each other as equals.
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Encouraged, she set out to find him.
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But Venus intercepted Psyche and said she and Cupid could only wed
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if she completed a series of impossible tasks.
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First, Psyche was told to sort a huge, messy pile of seeds in a single night.
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Just as she was abandoning hope,
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an ant colony took pity on her and helped with the work.
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Successfully passing the first trial,
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Psyche next had to bring Venus the fleece of the golden sheep,
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who had a reputation for disemboweling stray adventurers,
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but a river god showed her how to collect
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the fleece the sheep had snagged on briars,
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and she succeeded.
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Finally, Psyche had to travel to the Underworld
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and convince Proserpina, queen of the dead,
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to put a drop of her beauty in a box for Venus.
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Once again, the unseen voice came to Psyche's aide.
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It told her to bring barley cakes for Cerberus, the guard dog to the Underworld
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and coins to pay the boatman, Charon to ferry her across the river Styx.
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With her third and final task complete,
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Psyche returned to the land of the living.
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Just outside Venus's palace, she opened the box of Proserpina's beauty,
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hoping to keep some for herself.
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But the box was filled with sleep, not beauty,
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and Psyche collapsed in the road.
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Cupid, now recovered from his wounds, flew to his sleeping bride.
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He told her he'd been wrong and foolish.
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Her fearlessness in the face of the unknown
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proved that she was more than his equal.
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Cupid gave Psyche amborsia, the nectar of the gods, making her immortal.
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Shortly after, Psyche bore their daughter.
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They named her Pleasure,
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and she, Cupid, and Psyche, whose name means soul,
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have been complicating people's love lives ever since.
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