Psyche lay on the ground and wept. After a few deep breaths, she opened her eyes and saw that the palace was gone. She was back on the hillside where she had started. She went to her sisters, who pretended to be sorry for her. Psyche did not stay in the presence of their false sympathy long. She decided to wander the countryside and search for her husband.
For days she neither slept nor ate. One day she fell upon a temple in disarray. Being as fastidious as she was, Psyche straightened up the messy place of worship. The temple turned out to be that of Ceres, goddess of the harvest, who advised Psyche on how to get her husband back. “You have scorned Venus. Go and surrender yourself to her and perhaps she will pity you. If you obtain her forgiveness, you will have Cupid’s too.”
Psyche went to Venus, who promptly shouted at her for clumsily pouring oil on her son’s arm. She made Psyche her servant and placed her by an enormous grain bin. “There are six grains in this storehouse and they are all mixed up. Sort them before evening falls.”
Venus left and Psyche lay there on the ground whimpering at the unfairness of such an impossible task. Cupid saw her misery and sent ants, who quickly sorted the grains for her. That evening Venus returned unimpressed. “I know this is not of your doing, but my son’s. Your next task will be to go across the river and fetch me wool from each of those sheep with golden fleece.”
Psyche set out toward the river. As she prepared to cross, the river god stopped her. “Fair Psyche, if you seek fleece wait until the sheep have moved on and collect it from the bushes. Do not wander close to them, for they are viscous.” Psyche did as the river god instructed and returned to Venus with her arms full of golden fleece.
Again, Venus was not in the least impressed. Instead, she handed Psyche a box with the instructions: “Go to Persephone and tell her I need some of her beauty. I have lost so much of mine in tending to my wounded son!”
Psyche left straight away and found her way to Hades, the land of the dead. She went right to Persephone’s castle and requested a little of her beauty. Persephone obliged her but instructed her not to open the box, but give it directly to Venus.
During her long voyage home, Psyche became curious. “Wouldn’t it be nice to have a little beauty so that I may look my best when I see Cupid?” She opened the box only to be overcome with a deep sleep. She fell, motionless, onto the road.
Meanwhile, Cupid had fully recovered from his oil burn. He had missed Psyche terribly and set out to find her. He found her asleep on the road. He gathered up the sleep and returned it to the box. Psyche awoke and he spoke to her. “Go deliver this box to my mother. I will take care of everything.”
With that Psyche went back to Venus. Cupid, on the other hand, flew to Mt. Olympus and asked Zeus if Psyche could become immortal. Zeus, being an understanding uncle, agreed. Psyche was allowed to drink from the cup of immortality and earned her seat among the gods as Cupid’s wife.
丘比特和普赛克(2)
普赛克坐在地上放声大哭。几次深深的喘息之后她睁开眼睛，发现宫殿已经不见了。她又回到了当初她被放置的山腰。她跑去找她的姐姐们，她们假装很对不起她。普赛克没有沉浸于她们的假装同情。她决定走遍全国去寻找她的丈夫。
多少天，她既不睡觉也不吃东西。一天，她来到一座破败的神庙。一向追求完美的她将凌乱的祭祀场地清理干净。这是收获女神西尔瑞斯的神庙，她好心地告诉了普赛克怎样能追回她的丈夫。“你冒犯了维纳斯。去向她请降，也许她会原谅你。如果你得到了她的宽恕，你同样也能得到丘比特的。”
普赛克去找维纳斯。维纳斯马上向她大吼，因为她笨拙地将油倒在她儿子的胳膊上。她让普赛克作她的仆人，并将她带到了一个巨大的谷物柜前。“在这个储藏库里有六种谷粒，它们都是混在一起的。夜晚到来之前把她们分类整理好。”
维纳斯离开后，普赛克嘀咕着要完成这个不可能的任务是不公平的。丘比特看到了她的苦难，派蚂蚁去帮她把谷粒很快地整理好。那天晚上维纳斯回来后并没有太吃惊，“我知道这不是你做的，是我儿子做的。你的下一个任务是穿过河，给我取回那些羊身上的金羊毛。”
普赛克向着河流的方向出发。正当她准备过河的时候，河神阻止了她。“仙女普赛克，你最好等那些羊离开后，从树丛上收集羊毛。不要靠近那些羊，它们会把你粘走。”普赛克按照河神的指示做，捧着满把的金羊毛回到了维纳斯那里。
同样，维纳斯仍然不为所动。她交给了普赛克一个装满指示的盒子：“去找珀尔塞福涅（宙斯之女，冥王之妻），告诉她我想要些她的美貌。我失去了太多的美貌，只注意照看我儿子了。”
普赛克径直离开，找到通往冥府――死人国土――的路。她直接来到珀尔塞福涅的城堡，向她要求一些美貌。珀尔塞福涅指示她不要打开盒子，要求她直接把装着美貌的盒子交给维纳斯。
在她打道回府的路上，普赛克越来越觉得好奇，“如果能多拥有些美貌，让我在见到丘比特的时候是最美的状态难道不好吗？”她打开了盒子，马上深深的困意袭来。毫无知觉地，她倒在了路上。
这时候，丘比特被油烫伤的地方已经完全康复了。他极度想念普赛克并出发去找她。他发现她在路上睡着了。他将睡眠收集起来放回到盒子里。普赛克醒过来，他对她说，“去把这个盒子交给我妈。我会处理好一切。”
就这样普赛克回到了维纳斯那里。另一方面，丘比特飞向奥林匹斯山（众神居住的天堂），询问宙斯能不能让普赛克变为永生。宙斯，表示理解，同意了丘比特的请求。普赛克喝下永生之水，作为丘比特的妻子在众神之中获得了一席之位。
