Fairy Tales, Their Origin and Meaning; With Some Account of Dwellers in FairylandBunce, John Thackray
History
Fairy Tales, Their Origin and Meaning; With Some Account of Dwellers in Fairyland
Bunce, John Thackray
Fairy tales -- History and criticism
because such good fortune had not happened to themselves, to have such
a grand palace, and such store of wealth, and they plotted between
themselves to make her discover her husband, hoping to get some good
for themselves out of it, and not caring what happened to her. And it
so fell out that they had their way, for Psyche again getting tired of
solitude, again begged of her husband that her sisters might come to see
her once more, to which, with much sorrow, he consented, but warned her
again that if she spoke of him, or sought to see him, all her happiness
would vanish, and that she would have to bear a life of misery. But it
was fated that Psyche should disobey her husband; and it fell out in
this way. When her sisters came to her again they questioned her about
her husband, and persuaded her that she was married to a monster too
terrible to be looked at, and they told her that this was the reason
why he never came in the daytime, and refused to let himself be seen at
night. Then they also persuaded her that she ought to put an end to the
enchantment by killing the monster; and for this purpose they gave her a
sharp knife, and they gave her also a lamp, so that while he was asleep
she might look at him, so as to know where to strike. Then, being left
alone, poor Psyche's mind was full of terror, and she resolved to follow
the advice of her sisters. So when her husband was asleep, she went and
fetched the lamp, and looked at him by its light; and then she saw that,
instead of a deadly monster, it was Eros himself, the God of Love, to
whom she was married. But while she was filled with awe and delight at
this discovery, the misfortune happened which Eros had foretold. A drop
of oil from the lamp fell upon the shoulder of the god, and he sprang up
from the couch, reproached Psyche for her fatal curiosity, and vanished
from her sight; and then the beautiful palace vanished also, and Psyche
found herself lying on the bare cold earth, weeping, deserted, and
alone.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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