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| Roman Temple of Aphrodite |
Well, not quite the welcome I'd hoped for, I snorted to myself. When you're entering the temple of your mother-in-law, you're usually hoping for something a little warmer, but then again my mother-in-law was currently on a mission to kill me, so what did I expect? Venus was mad, and by mad I mean furious that her son Cupid had married me. (She has some sort of jealousy thing because I'm a little to beautiful for her liking, plus I'm a mortal. Ya know, the normal family issues).
Speaking of Cupid, where was that drama king anyway? I'd been looking for my impossibly angry husband for days, while simultaneously trying to prevent Venus from killing me.
Ugh, men. You have a couple little doubts when you realize you've never seen your husband's face, and suddenly its the end of the world. I mean, sure, in hindsight the whole 'he could be a giant killer serpent, so I'm gonna bring a razor to bed with me' thing may have been a little melodramatic, but it was a one time thing! Sue me.
But here I was, in this stupid temple and in a completely desperate situation, about to beg Venus for mercy and forgiveness. I hugged my belly a little tighter, wishing I would feel that comforting flutter of a kick to know my baby was still here, that he was okay, that he was on my side.
"Well, well, well, if it isn't my precious daughter-in-law." Venus stalked toward me, her voice dripping with sarcasm as her face twisted into a smirk. Oh good gods, here we go. "Come to beg me at last have you? Or are you just here to see your husband? No matter really, I have plans for you anyway."
"Goody," I said flatly. So this is where my husband has been all of this time. Of course.
"Look at this girl. Coming here, practically parading her pregnant belly around, trying to rub it in my face that my stupid, stupid son has fathered a bastard." Venus addressed her servants.
In my defense, I was hardly parading my pregnancy. Being 8 months pregnant is a little hard to hide. Leave it to my mother-in-law to exaggerate wildly though.
"Don't even bother thinking that there is a hope in the world of me allowing that child to be legitimate. You'll be lucky if I even let this monstrosity be born." Venus went on cruelly. I hugged myself tightly, tears pricking my eyes. Buck up, Psyche, now is not the time to be getting all hormonal. I schooled my features, steeling myself against her hateful words before shooting her an icy glare. If only looks could kill.
My silence infuriated Venus, and suddenly she was attacking me, ripping at my hair, tearing at my robes, screaming in rage. I hunched protectively over my belly, curling into myself, trying only to protect my baby. Tears streamed down my face. She stopped finally, as quickly as she had started, and stepped away from me, disheveled and breathing hard. She spoke to one of her servants who ran to the kitchens to do her bidding. She stared at me coldly, until they'd come back, heaving a giant bag. "Sort these," she motioned toward the sack. "Before the evening is done. Show it to me for approval." Then she turned on her heel and took off, her servants hurrying after her.
I stood there dumbly. I was bruised, bleeding even. My clothes were tattered. What had once been a beautiful draping of sapphire silk, now hung around me in limp tatters. I stepped towards the sack, peaking into it. You've gotta be flippin' kidding me. Beans. The bag was full of beans. At least 10 different kinds. Venus wanted me to sort a giant sack of beans.
I was suddenly exhausted. The kind of exhaustion that extends all of the way to your bones. My arms and legs felt like lead. I sank to the ground, sighing a breath that ended in a sob. This was asinine. This was literally completely insane. I was sorting BEANS for my psychotic monster-in-law in the hopes that she would decide not to destroy my life, my marriage, and my child. If I didn't love my stupid, impossibly aggravating husband so much, and if I weren't carrying his baby, I would just let her destroy me. But I was in love with him, and I was carrying his baby. This precious, lovely baby I was carrying. This tiny child who comforted me with his kicks, who promised to be everything I had ever dreamed of. I would do whatever crazy thing Venus demanded of me for this baby.
I began sorting. It was slow work. I would never finish in time. But then I heard a small cough. I looked up and a child stepped out of the dark corridor leading to the kitchens. She walked toward me, looking at the sack with a pitying glance. "You'll never finish that. You better let me help." She hesitated for a moment, then held up one finger to me, signaling that I should wait, as she ran back to where she'd come from.
She came back quickly, bringing with her a hoard of other children, all varying ages. They sat down close to me, and wordlessly began passing the giant sack around until everyone had a heaping pile of beans. And then we all began to sort. Maybe I'll make it out of this ridiculous mess after all.
Authors Note: Okay so my main problem with the Cupid and Psyche unit was that as much as I wanted to really like Psyche and really root for her, she didn't seem to have much of a personality. She doesn't really think for herself and frankly, she's kind of a cry baby. I'm all about strong female characters. I like to read about women who are smart and courageous, who think for themselves, who don't whimper and simper and wait around all day waiting for someone else to give them the answers. One of my favorite scenes in this story was when Psyche finally goes to Venus to try and get everything figured out. I wanted to portray this scene in a different light though. I really wanted to turn Psyche into a strong character, someone with a personality, with opinions, and a lot of self respect and confidence. I also thought that if I was going to make Psyche more lively and outspoken that it would make more sense to give the story a more modern type of feel and attitude. So this is my take on Venus and Psyche. Thanks for reading!
Bibliography: Venus and Psyche, Apuleius's Golden Ass translated by Tony Kline (2013).
Well I never would have guessed that Psyche was not strong from reading this. You did an amazing job of portraying her as a very strong woman with her own ideas. I thought it was great how the reader was able to see into Psyche’s mind the whole time. The dialogue was addition as well. I also liked how you ended on an optimistic note, but didn’t spell out if she succeeded or not.
ReplyDeleteWell this was a good take on this story. I think you did a great job of allowing the humor that seems natural, to shine through in you storytelling style. Telling this from a woman's point of view is also a good approach because so many of the Greek stories seem to use woman as sorta ornaments without any type of personality so your story really added some depth to the character. Good Job.
ReplyDeleteOuch, the text color makes this somewhat hard to read. Other than that, I liked how you started your story fast. It really drew me into the story. Also, I think that telling this from a woman's perspective is really interesting. Usually, Greek myths are very male-centric, and the women are there (at least most of the time) to be wives or damsels in distress. Also, I really enjoyed reading the story in general. It has a good plot, and you wove in dialog well; that's something that I can never figure out how to do. Lastly, your storytelling style seemed like it came very naturally to you. Whether it did or not, the fact that this story came so easily to you made it a lot easier for us readers to understand. It flowed well and wasn't choppy or confusing anywhere. Overall, great job with this story. I enjoyed reading it.
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