Reading Notes: Cupid and Psyche, Part A

 As the story begins the hero of Apuleius's novel, a man named Lucius, has been turned into a donkey. He is now in the possession of a band of robbers who are using him as a pack animal; they also have a horse in their possession (he is a normal horse, unlike our magical donkey-hero who does indeed regain his human form at the end of the novel). There is also an old woman who is part of the band; this old woman is going to be our storyteller for the "Cupid and Psyche" fairy tale.

The young woman explains to the old woman that the robbers kidnapped her on her wedding day. Even worse, she has a dream about the kidnapping which has made her even more upset than she was to begin with. It is at this moment that the old woman decides to tell the story of "Cupid and Psyche" to cheer the poor girl up

n this part of the story you will see a standard fairytale plot element: the prohibition, which will be followed by a transgression of that prohibition. Cupid gives Psyche some very good advice, but the forward movement of the story depends on the fact that of course she is not going to be able to do as he tells her!

The Greeks had names for the four chief winds: Zephyr was the west wind, Eurus the east wind, Notus was the south wind, and Boreas was the north wind (as in the phrase "Aurora Borealis," the Northern Lights)

The god Pan makes an appearance in this section of the story (Psyche's Despair)

Tony Kline. Cupid and Psyche. Source.

Cupid