Cupid (6 page)

Without another word, Urania flew out the window and down to the veil and into the night heavens.

Cupid crossed the hallway and knocked on the door Urania had indicated.

There was no answer. He knocked again. No answer. Cupid tried the door. It opened. He entered quietly, closing the door behind him.

He found himself in another large room. The four walls were shelves filled with scrolls. In the center of the room was a long table. It, too, was covered with scrolls. Cupid picked up an unusually thick one and unrolled it. Inside was a note from Erato:
Lord Apollo. I inspired a blind man named Homer to write this. I think you will enjoy it.

Cupid moved the note aside to read the title:
The Odyssey.

Cupid was not much of a reader, especially if it was a long scroll, and this was the longest one he'd ever seen.

He set it back on the table and the scroll rerolled itself. He opened another one, on which was a note from Clio.

"Lord Apollo. Here is the account of the Peloponnesian War by Thucydides. I thought I had inspired him to give an objective account of the war, but I fear this is very one-sided. Inspiring humans to write the truth about their history takes every bit of strength I have, and quite frankly, I don't know if it's worth it. I want to put in for some vacation time. I would like to go back in time to the Egyptians. People who wrote in pictures did not lie because it took too much work. Is it all right that I asked for vacation time in a note? Or would you prefer I fill out the Request for Extended Vacation Time form?"

Cupid put the scroll down. He had to get on with what he came to do. Just then he heard someone trying to stifle a cough. The sound had come from a room in the back of Apollo's chambers.

This room, too, was filled with scrolls, but Cupid only gave them a cursory glance. However, he did notice one with a note attached: "For J. S. Bach. Mass in B Minor. Do not open until 1749." He had no idea what that meant.

"Apollo? I know you're in here."

There was a long silence, and then Apollo emerged sheepishly from a closet.

"I don't know why you're here and I don't want to know! Just stay away from me," Apollo said firmly.

"It's all right. I came on business."

"And what could that be? After what you did to me, I can't imagine what kind of business we could have with each other."

"Hold on. Don't blame me. If you hadn't made fun of me, nothing would have happened. My mother warned you."

If there's one thing the gods share with us humans, it is hating to admit when they are in the wrong. Apollo thought for a moment, trying to find a way to get out of losing face to Cupid. He considered the matter from the front side and the back, up, down, and sideways, and when he finished, things still looked the same.

Finally, he cleared his throat and, in a soft, barely audible voice, said, "Well, as loath as I am to admit it, your statement might have some merit. I suppose in my boasting about slaying Python, I might have needed to be taught a lesson."

Cupid smiled. "I appreciate what you said. As far as I'm concerned, bygones are bygones. I came to talk to you about some here-comes."

Apollo had no idea what Cupid was talking about. "Speak and tell me what brings you here."

Cupid told him about Psyche and her father's plans to learn Psyche's future from Apollo what was in Psyche's future. "When the king comes, I would like you to tell him she is to marry me."

Apollo said, "You know I can do nothing but tell the truth about what I see."

Cupid made as if to take his bow from around his torso.

Apollo quickly added, "However, what I see in a person's future is all a matter of how I interpret what I see."

"Thanks, Apollo. If there's ever anything I can do for you, don't hesitate to get in touch."

Apollo narrowed his eyes. "Tell me. How does your mother feel about your infatuation with a mortal?"

Cupid blushed. "I-I haven't gotten around to telling her yet."

"You what?" Apollo laughed. "I don't believe it. You're afraid of your mother."

"You won't tell, will you?" Cupid whispered.

"If you promise to never again strike me with one of your arrows."

Cupid shook his head and gave an evil smile. "I don't make deals like that. If you say a word to Venus, I will see to it that one of my arrows is in your heart until the end of eternity."

Apollo nodded quickly. "OK, OK. I won't say anything to Venus and I'll see what I can do about Psyche."

"Thanks, Apollo. And I mean it."

When the king entered Psyche's chambers the following morning, he saw her standing at a window, looking down at the crowds waiting eagerly for her to make an
appearance. He could see the stiff stillness of apprehension in her body.

"What have I done to you?" he asked quietly.

Psyche turned around.

The king saw tears in her eyes. "I have put the wants and needs of others above yours."

"You are the king," Psyche responded. "The needs of your subjects must take precedence over your own needs and even those of your family."

The king nodded. "But am I required to sacrifice the well-being and happiness of my youngest daughter?"

Psyche smiled weakly. "The king's youngest hopes not."

"So does the king. I am off to the shrine of Apollo. Are you prepared to obey the god's decree?"

"How can I know until I've heard the decree?"

"What the god decrees, we must obey."

"And if I refuse?"

"The god will mete out punishment on us all."

"Am I never to have a choice? Is my life always to be governed by what my father or a god deems best?"

The king had never seen anger on the face of his daughter or heard rebellion in her voice. He wondered if he really knew this child of his. Ashamed, he realized he had never sat and talked with her about what she wanted her life to be. She was a princess, the daughter of the king and queen. She was born to carry out the duties of her station. But what if she did not want to? What then?

Not knowing what to say, the king muttered, "I must
go. I will return after sunset to tell you of the god's decree. I hope his words will gladden your heart."

"I, too, Father. I, too."

Psyche was convinced it was the longest day that had ever been. The sun seemed to take a week to climb to the top of the sky, only to stay there another week before beginning its slide downward to the bed of night.

Finally, evening came. Psyche heard, or thought she did, the hoofbeats of the king's horse and those of his counselors. She waited anxiously for her father to come and reveal her fate as Apollo had decreed it.

But the king did not come that night.

From Olympus, Cupid had seen the king return, his head slumped to his chest as if he were grieving. Something was wrong! "What in Juno's name did Apollo tell him?" Cupid wondered aloud. Obviously it was not what Cupid had asked him to say.

Cupid flew quickly down to the palace and to the roof above Psyche's chambers. He waited eagerly for the king to come and tell Psyche what Apollo had said. But the hours passed without any sign of the king.

Wondering what was wrong, Cupid flew around the palace until he saw the king and queen sitting alone before the large fireplace in the Great Hall. They were staring into the low-burning fire as if someone had died.

Had Apollo decreed Psyche's death? If he had, Cupid would have Apollo reciting love poetry to his toenails with all the gods and goddesses for an audience!

Another day passed, and still the king did not come to Psyche. After yet another day went by without a visit from the king, Psyche knew Apollo had decreed what she feared most, that she belonged to all those who needed her beauty. She would spare her father the pain of telling her that which he knew would lead her to take her life.

She opened the doors to the balcony and walked to the railing. From the roof above, Cupid watched, horrified, as she sat on the railing, then pulled her legs over. She was going to kill herself! He was just about to spread his wings and fly down to catch her as she fell, but just then the door of her chamber opened.

"Psyche!" the king called out. "Psyche!"

She turned around. "Father?"

"Psyche, please come inside. It is not as you feared."

"It isn't?"

"No. Please. Come inside."

Psyche swung her legs around and went back into the room. Outside, Cupid breathed a sigh of relief. Then he alighted quietly on the balcony, hid next to the doors, and listened.

"What did Apollo say?" Psyche asked eagerly.

"The god said that I am to take you to the highest
mountain, where your husband—." The king faltered and stopped.

"My husband? Please, Father. Go on. What about my husband?"

"Your husband," the king continued in a broken voice, "an evil and destructive monster, will take you for his wife."

Father and daughter were silent for a moment. Then Psyche started crying softly.

"I am sorry I did not come to you at once and tell you," the king apologized. "But I was devastated and could scarcely speak."

He put his arms around her and they both wept.

Outside, Cupid fumed. "An evil and destructive monster. Is that what you think I am, Apollo? I'll show you what evil and destruction are!" But he stopped when he realized that Apollo had merely put his own little twist on what Cupid had asked him to say. It did not matter how Apollo described him as long as Psyche was going to be his and his alone!

Immediately, Cupid flew from the palace. He had a lot to do.

When Sun awoke the following morning, he knew immediately: something was wrong. Earth was not singing and welcoming him back to the land where Psyche lived,
something Earth had done since the day of her birth. But on this morning, as Sun rose over Earth's eastern edge, she was not singing but weeping:

"Brother Sun! Brother Sun!" Earth called out as Sun's first rays began pushing darkness to its lair on the other side of the world. "Do not lend your light to this horrible day! Our Psyche, beloved Psyche, is being sent away to become the bride of an evil and destructive monster, and we will never see her again."

Sun stopped rising. How was he supposed to live if he could not gaze upon Psyche each day? Unlike people who only saw her for a few minutes one afternoon each month, Sun saw her every day from the moment she awoke. Only the sight of her beauty at the beginning of each day gave him the strength to climb the sky. People did not understand how hard Sun had to work to make his way up to the very top of the sky without a ladder to walk on, or rope to climb with. Some days Sun was so out of breath and tired by the time he got over to the western part of the world, he went to bed wondering if he could get up the next morning. Many days he would not have except for the fact that he wanted to see Psyche.

Sun knew there was nothing he could do to save Psyche, but that did not mean he had to watch. But how could he not? He saw everything that happened on Earth. He needed something between him and Earth, something big enough and thick enough that he could not see through it.

The answer came immediately. He needed the help of Aeolus, the mortal who controlled the Four Winds. Sun aimed a strong beam into the cave where Aeolus lived with his wife, Cyane, and the Four Winds.

"Greetings, my friend," Sun began when Aeolus came outside. "I don't know if you have heard the news, but this is a sad day. Psyche is to be married to an evil monster, and I can't bear to witness such a sad event."

"That is sad indeed," Aeolus commiserated. "Her beauty brings joy to so many. Is there nothing we can do?"

"For her, no. For me, perhaps. Because of where you live, you will be spared the sight of her leaving the kingdom. I need your help so I will be spared the sight, also."

"I will do anything I can," Aeolus offered.

"I am grateful. I was wondering if the Four Winds could bring together all the clouds and blow them over the Kingdom-by-the-Great-Blue-Sea? In that way I will be hidden behind the clouds and will not see what happens to Psyche."

Aeolus hesitated. "I don't know. I'll have to talk to the Winds, because they are the ones who will have to do all the work. You are asking a lot."

"I understand."

"And Favonius, West Wind, had a big argument a while back with Aquilo, North Wind, and moved out."

Aeolus went back inside the cave and told Aquilo, Auster (South Wind), and Eurus (East Wind), what Sun wanted of them. The Winds were saddened by the news of
Psyche's fate. She had danced and played in the palace garden with them. Each of them had blown through her hair, stroked her arms, and been rewarded with a smile of such sweetness that when any of the Winds thought of blowing through the kingdom as a storm, they went to another kingdom instead. They could not do anything that would turn her smile to sorrow. Understanding how Sun felt, they went quickly to work.

From his new home at the western edge of the world, Favonius saw his siblings blowing the clouds. When they told him what had happened and what they were doing, he began blowing the clouds in his western sphere toward the Kingdom-by-the-Great-Blue-Sea.

Soon the sky over the kingdom was filled with dark clouds so thick and heavy that Sister Moon, thinking she had overslept, started to get out of bed. But then she noticed that Evening Star was still snoring quietly, and she was always up before Sister Moon.

"Why is it so dark?" Sister Moon asked aloud.

"That's Brother Sun's doing," answered North Star, who never slept. "The Four Winds have covered him with every cloud in the heavens, and he's hiding behind them, bawling like he's never going to shine again. I believe he's having a nervous breakdown."

"Serves him right!" Sister Moon mumbled and got back under the covers. She and Brother Sun had a long courtship once, and it looked like they were going to get married. But then Brother Sun saw Psyche for the first time. After that, he
didn't have eyes for anybody else. But if the truth be known, Sister Moon had never understood how she and Brother Sun would have stayed married since she liked to be out and about when he was sleeping, and he was raring to go when she was getting ready for bed. It would not have been much of a marriage.