The story of Cupid and Psyche

Ever wonder why Cupid is associated with love (and Valentine’s Day)? He is one of the main characters in the story of Cupid and Psyche – a Greek mythology love story with a happy ending! 
Most love stories in Greek and Roman mythology have unhappy endings. The Psyche and Cupid story, unlike most others (ie. the stories of Apollo and Daphne, and Aphrodite and Adonis) ends with the two lovers united. Learn about how Cupid, a god of love and a major symbol of Valentine’s Day, found his soulmate and beat the odds to end up happily ever after.This enduring and inspirational love story has even influenced modern day fairy tales like Beauty and the Beast and Cinderella. Keep reading to learn more!
Is it Cupid and Psyche or Eros and Psyche?
While there are many similarities between Greek and Roman mythology, there are some points where they diverge. Greek mythology predates Roman mythology. When Roman mythology emerged, it reimagined some of the details of the Greek myths.In the two types of mythology, names are often changed, and sometimes plot points differ. However, the Cupid and Psyche story is largely the same in both Greek and Roman mythology.

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  A king and queen have three daughters.
  
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  All three of the girls are attractive, but one of them is absolutely gorgeous – Psyche.
  
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  People come from all around just to check out how beautiful Psyche is.
  
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  All this adoration of Psyche gets totally out of hand; men start worshiping her as if she were a goddess and ignore the altars of the goddess of love and beauty, Venus (a.k.a. Aphrodite).
  
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  Men even start saying that Psyche is more beautiful than Venus. (Uh-oh.)
  
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  We bet you can guess who got mad about this. Yup, that's right – Venus.
  
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  The goddess of love gets kind of hateful and orders her son, Cupid (a.k.a. Eros), to go and punish Psyche by making her fall in love with the ugliest thing around.
  
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  Cupid sneaks into Psyche's bedroom to do his mother's bidding, but, when he sees how beautiful Psyche is, he gets all distracted and pricks himself with his own arrow.
  

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  Cupid falls instantly in love with Psyche and leaves without doing what his mother told him to do.
  
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  Psyche's life continues on as usual: everybody comes to gawk at how hot she is.
  
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  However, since Venus has it in for her, nobody ever falls in love with Psyche.
  
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  Psyche's two sisters end up getting married, but Psyche is stuck sitting alone in her room.
  
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  Getting worried that they've made some god angry, Psyche's parents decide to go consult the oracle of Apollo about their daughter's future.
  
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  The oracle tells them that Psyche is destined to marry a monster that neither god nor mortal can resist.
  
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  Psyche's parents are instructed to leave her on a mountain to await her monstrous husband. They cry a lot about it, but they do it anyway.
  
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  So, Psyche is chilling on top of the mountain, fully expecting something terrible to happen.
  
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  Zephyr, the west wind, comes and lifts her, carrying the princess gently from the mountaintop down to a beautiful field of flowers.
  
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  Psyche comes across an amazing castle and goes inside. The place is decked out with tons of treasure and priceless pieces of art.
  
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  She hears voices that tell her that the palace and all the amazing stuff in it is hers.
  
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  She's treated to a wonderful feast, complete with an invisible singing chorus for entertainment.
  
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  Her husband-to-be comes to her that night in the darkness of her bedroom, so she can't see what he looks like. He tells her that she must never try to see what he looks like.
  
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  She's cool with that for a while, but eventually she gets lonely since he only comes at night and because there are no other humans around.
  
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  Psyche convinces her invisible husband to let her sisters come and visit her. He reluctantly agrees and has Zephyr float them down.
  
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  Psyche's sisters get super-jealous about her incredibly posh lifestyle. They start interrogating her about who her husband is.
  
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  At first, Psyche lies and says he's a handsome young man who spends all day hunting in the mountains. They don't buy it, though, and keep pumping her for information.
  
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  Eventually, Psyche admits that she's never seen him and that he only comes at night.
  
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  The jealous sisters remind Psyche of the prophecy that she would marry a monster, and they convince their sister that she has to see what her husband looks like.
  
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  They advise her to wait until he's asleep, then stand over him with a lamp and a knife (in case he's a monster).
  
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  That night she follows her sisters' advice and sees that her husband is none other than Cupid.
  
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  Psyche is blown away by how ridiculously handsome her husband is. She's so distracted that she lets a drop of oil fall and burns his skin.
  
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  Cupid wakes up and sees his wife standing there with the lamp and a knife.
  
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  Furious, he flies out the window, telling Psyche that she'll never see him again.
  
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  The beautiful palace disappears and Psyche is left all alone.
  
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  Totally depressed, Psyche goes back to her sisters and tells them what happened.
  
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  As if they hadn't already shown how totally awful they were, the sisters now go to the mountaintop thinking that one of them might take Psyche's husband for themselves.
  
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  They jump off the mountain, expecting Zephyr to take them down. (No such luck.)
  
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  The jealous sisters fall to their deaths on the rocks below.
  
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  Meanwhile, Psyche wanders around trying to find Cupid.
  
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  She ends up going to a temple of Ceres (a.k.a. Demeter), goddess of the harvest. The temple is a total wreck, so Psyche cleans it up.
  
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  Ceres is impressed with Psyche's devotion.
  
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  Psyche asks for some help.
  
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  Ceres wishes she could give Psyche a hand, but the goddess says she can't go against Venus.
  
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  Ceres advises Psyche to go to Venus and humbly beg for forgiveness.
  
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  Psyche takes Ceres' advice and presents herself to Venus.
  
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  Venus is still crazy mad and gives Psyche a tongue lashing, telling the girl that Cupid is still trying to recover from the burn that the oil gave him when it dripped on him.
  
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  The goddess of love tells Psyche that she must prove herself worthy to be Cupid's wife by completing a task.
  
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  Psyche is taken to a storehouse full of wheat, millet, barley, and all kinds of stuff that Venus uses to feed her pigeons.
  
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  Psyche is ordered to organize all the different kinds of grain – the wheat with the wheat, the barley with the barley, etc.
  
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  The job seems pretty much impossible, and, to make matters worse, Venus orders Psyche to get it done by evening.
  
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  Cupid intervenes, however, and inspires a colony of ants to come out of the ground and help out Psyche. (Phew! We were worried that