Story: Serpents of Envy

-Letter found in a box that once held Persephone’s beauty. –

They say jealousy is the root of all evil, well whoever they are, at least got that part right. If you are reading this you must be in need of some serious help. Let me guess the Goddess of Love is after you, and armed with her two serpents from Hell? Ya, I had that problem too, take it from someone who’s been there, and get out while you still can. Even while writing this I have to stop from questioning myself and wondering if Love is really worth all this trouble. You see that’s what they want from you, from us. They want all of us, all mortals, to give up our dreams and destiny, for the sole reason that they covet it. The Goddess of Beauty should be called the Goddess of Envy, because god forbid there is someone out there who is happier than her, if she would just get out of her little bubble . . . I digress. If you fit this description and if everything you love and hold dear has been taken from you, then you have two choices. You can hold on to the belief that love is worth fighting for and face the Queen of all evil or you can pack it up and go home. As for me she took Love itself from me and I am determined to get him back. I don’t know what my fate will be, when someone finally finds this letter, but whatever it is just know, that all of this was worth it.  We have something to fight for, she doesn’t. I have left my letter here with Persephone in hopes that whoever you are, it will help you find and take back what makes you happy.

                                                                                             -Psyche

Psyche as she looks inside Persephone's box. Web Source

A few weeks ago, I was just a normal girl, trying to decide whether or not I should wake up and actually go to class. Now here I am trucking through Hell, trying to find where that rat, I mean the Goddess of Beauty and Divinity, the picture of all that is beautiful. . .blah blah blah, is hiding. Seriously that woman is like a broken record when it comes to how amazing she thinks she is. When my trails lead me to Hell itself, I thought the most likely place she would be was with Persephone, but sadly she had already moved on. Now here I am stuck in Hell, literally, all the while being chased by her two goons, who I have aptly nicknamed the Serpents of Envy. I know her two followers all too well. We use to be best friends until jealousy turned them away from me and into the clutches of that witch. Now they have turned into something beyond human, they are puppets in her endless game to make me miserable. I like to think of their little group as a school clique. You have the two lackeys, who wouldn’t have an original thought if it bit them in the butt and then you have the queen bee and what does the queen bee always want (in those cliché, but totally addicting movies?) The boy. The God of Love himself. Now he’s gotten himself kidnapped and who has to go find him? Me, that’s who. When I met him on my first day of college I should have walked the other way, but no, I go and make him my best friend all the while neglecting to mention the fact that he was a GOD. Anyway, I find out that he’s been kidnapped and now I’m the one who has to go face a goddess and get him back, can someone please cue the hard-core, hero saving music? The only useful thing I have learned while down here from Persephone is that the Queen Bee is visiting her cousin and drum roll please, the God of Death. I literally love my life right now. Luckily I thought to bring coins to get across the river and now I’m on my to knock on Death’s door, literally. As I walked I knew I had to think of some clever way to trick her into releasing the man I love. As much as I don’t want to admit I like that cocky best friend of mine, I need to find out if he loves me too. I am armed with a plan to trick the gods themselves and a sassy attitude, noting can stop me now. It’s time to get my man.

Authors Note:

This story is based off of the tale of Cupid and Psyche from the story of the Golden Ass by Apuleius. In the original story Cupid’s mother, Venus, the Goddess of Beauty, is jealous of Psyches beauty and the attention she gets. She asks her son to make Psyche fall in love with a monster, who instead takes her for a wife of his own. He hides his face from his wife and asks her to never seek out his identity, for fear it will get back to Venus. She complies, until her sisters who are jealous convince her that he is evil. In an attempt to figure out who her husband is, Psyche accidentally burns him with hot oil from a light. He gets angry and goes to his mother. Psyche turns herself into Venus and complete three tasks to try to get Cupid back. In the end the lovers are reunited. For my story I liked the idea of the sisters being in league with jealous Venus. They are represented in the serpents. I also wanted to show more of Psyche’s strength by making her the heroine.  The story starts out during one of the tasks that Psyche had to complete, which is to get beauty from Persephone for Venus. Unlike in the story I imagined that Persephone would see an ally in Psyche, thus letting her leave a note for Venus’s next victim. While the original story ends with Psyche and Cupid together, I wanted to end my story with an open ending because love is the beginning of a new story for these two lovers.  She has accepted her love for the God of Love himself and is ready to being a new story that is after she recuses him, of course.

Bibliography: These notes are from the reading "The Golden Ass," by Apuleius and translated into English by Tony Kline.