A Book of Myths, by Jean Lang - Umnet

violets in spring and gazed at Eros. He knew that he was invisible, and
yet her gaze made him tremble.
"They spoke truth!" said the lad to himself. "Not even my mother is as
fair as this princess."
For a moment her eyelids quivered, and then dropped. Her long dark
lashes fell on her cheeks that were pink as the hearts of the fragile
shells that the waves toss up on western beaches, her red mouth, curved
like the bow of Eros, smiled happily, and Psyche slept again. With
heart that beat as it had never beaten before, Eros gazed upon her
perfect loveliness. With gentle, pitying finger he wiped away the red
drop where his arrow had wounded her, and then stooped and touched
her lips with his own, so lightly that Psyche in her dreams thought that
they had been brushed by a butterfly's wings. Yet in her sleep she
moved, and Eros, starting back, pricked himself with one of his arrows.
And with that prick, for Eros there passed away all the careless ease of
the heart of a boy, and he knew that he loved Psyche with the
unquenchable love of a deathless god. Now, with bitter regret, all his
desire was to undo the wrong he had done to the one that he loved.
Speedily he sprinkled her with the sweet water that brings joy, and
when Psyche rose from her couch she was radiant with the beauty that
comes from a new, undreamed-of happiness.
"From place to place Love followed her that day And ever fairer to his
eyes she grew, So that at last when from her bower he flew, And
underneath his feet the moonlit sea Went shepherding his waves
disorderly, He swore that of all gods and men, no one Should hold her
in his arms but he alone; That she should dwell with him in glorious
wise Like to a goddess in some paradise; Yea, he would get from
Father Jove this grace That she should never die, but her sweet face
And wonderful fair body should endure Till the foundations of the
mountains sure Were molten in the sea; so utterly Did he forget his
mother's cruelty."
William Morris.
Meantime it came to be known all over that land, and in other lands to