All in the name of Love

There was no other choice. I went everywhere I could turn. I had to go see....1

His mother.2

I made a mistake and lost the only one I've ever loved. I stood in front of the alter of Aphrodite, my offerings in my arms, and gulped. 3

'Would she be mad at me?' I thought. There were rumors that floated around about my beauty being more marvelous than hers, but I never let it go to my head. My beauty was nothing to be helped, but I never made her mad, have I?4

'What if she refused to help me.'5

I swept away some old ashes from the alter and lit the incense.6

"Oh, beautiful Aphrodite, goddess of love and the heart. Take my offerings and hear my plea. I have broken Eros' heart, but I still love him and I can not live my life without him. I've been to every god and, from fear of angering you, they have refused to help me. I am willing to work for you to soften your anger."7

I burned the my offering and watched the flames dance. When the shadows grew longer and the fire grew dim, Aphrodite still did not answer me. I sighed and turned to walk away.8

I heard a small giggle. I looked toward the alter. A beautiful woman sat on the edge, sniffing the smoke with her thin nose. She only had to be Aphrodite. Her long blond hair curled back into a golden clasp ring and flowed down her back where it would meet another gold ring. The royal dress she wore was blue, like the foam that she emerged from.9

"You must be Psyche," she said with a mock smile, "do you come here for a new husband since the one you had almost died from the burn you gave him."10

Even though her looks were pleasant, her words were sour. I did not burn Eros on purpose. The oil from the lamp dripped on his shoulder as I was leaning over him.11

"Oh, I will do anything to get Eros back."12

"Anything, huh?" a spark lit Aphrodite's eye. She thought for a while. Finally she said, "You are so plain a girl that you will never be able to get a lover except by the most diligent and painful service. I will show you my goodwill by training you."13

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Aphrodite led me to a lone house in the woods, where the ivy climbed the walls to the roof. She guided me inside and sat me down at an old table, then she went into what I assume would be the kitchen. I heard something being poured. After a minute, she came back out with a cup and spilled its contents onto the table. Millions of tiny seeds scattered.15

"By nightfall, these must be sorted. See to it." And with that she left.16

I sat and stared at the pile. There was no way to sort all of this. It was impossible. I played with it with my finger and then gave a sigh of despair. I placed my head on the table. There was nothing I could do.17

Ants had started to swarm around the seeds by this time. I couldn't even protect the seeds from being carried away. Before I buried my head in my arms, I noticed that the ants would carry different seeds to different places on the table. Even seeds that looked quite the same to me were assigned to their correct piles. I couldn't believe it! The ants were sorting for me. I sat back and watched them work, occasionally separating seeds to make them easier to reach. It was not until they were through when I remembered to thank them.18

"Thank you so much my small friends. Your kindness means the world to me."19

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When Aphrodite walked in and saw the task complete, she became angry with me.21

"Your work is by no means over," she said.22

My stomach growled from a day without food.23

"You wish to eat do you?" She asked with a wicked grin on her face. She wished to see selfishness in me. I did not give her the satisfaction. I said nothing. Her smile turned to a scowl and she gave me a stale piece of bread crust.24

"I would have given you leftovers from the feast," she explained, "but only gods eat ambrosia you understand."25

I nodded my head. She then showed me where I would sleep, which was a mat on the ground next to a soft and inviting couch. Aphrodite did not bother to explain this as she kicked off her shoes and laid down on the couch. I placed the piece of crust at the side of my mat before I laid down to sleep.26

"Thank you," I said to the darkness, "Thank you."27

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Between the hard ground and Aphrodite's snoring, I did not get enough sleep. Her snores sounded like a cross between a goat chewing grass and an ox pulling a heavy cart on a pebbled road. Before I fell asleep, I heard her laugh manically before she rolled over.29

Aphrodite woke me up before Apollo's chariot rose over the horizon.30

"Down near the river bank, where there are thick bushes, are golden fleeced sheep. Go and get me some of their wool."31

With a great moan, I got up and went to the river bank.32

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The sky started to turn pink from Apollo's chariot by the time I got there. My clothes were ripped from the thorns and I knelt down to catch my breath. The water was dark green with small reeds and flowed very gently. I wondered if the water was strong enough to sweep away my body. I knew I could not keep living like this. I was hungry and sleep deprived and I felt I would never see Eros again. How cold would the water be against my skin as I drowned, or did it really matter? I knew one thing for sure. I could not face the golden fleeced sheep. They have been known to be ferocious and kill people with their sharp horns and heads that were as hard as rocks. If I was bitten by one, it would be poisonous.34

"Psyche," said a small voice. It took me a moment to realize that the voice was coming from a small reed.35

"I must be out of my mind," I said.36

"Please don't drown yourself in the water. I can help you."37

"Any help would be wonderful."38

"Do you remember what you crawled out of?"39

"Thorns."40

"Correct. They are all over this riverbank. When the sheep come out to drink, keep a safe distance away from them. Wait for them to leave then collect the extra wool that had caught onto the thorns."41

"Oh, thank you. Thank you so much."42

The sheep's fur shimmered brightly in the sun. Gold specks of light would brighten and dim as they moved. An occasional sheep would have dried blood on their fur, a reminder of how dangerous they truly were. Their golden horns twisted up and their hooves matched their marvelous wool. Two males fought while the rest gently drank.43

The bigger of the two stabbed the other in the shoulder with his horns and fresh blood splattered across his muscular legs and hooves. The injured one loudly bleated before he fell to the ground. The bigger one was indifferent and turned to drink with the others. The injured one laid where he fell for a few minutes, so still that I thought it was dead, then he got up on its feet and drank from the cool stream as well. I gave a shiver as I watched his blood soak into his thick wool from his shoulder.44

They stayed and drank for a while, then the bigger sheep bleated and began to walk away. The flock followed and as the injured one limped away, I crept out of my hiding place and inspected the bushes. Just as the reed had said, their wool caught onto the thorns. I quickly grabbed as much as I could see, scraping my hands and forearms till they bled. I gathered the wool in my dress and ran back to Aphrodite with a big grin on my face.45

Aphrodite was not pleased.46

"Someone helped you," she sharply accused, "You could not have done this yourself."47

I stopped smiling.48

"But," Aphrodite continued, "I will give you another opportunity to prove yourself."49

She pointed out the window toward a hill that black water flowed slowly from.50

"That is the source of the River Styx. Fill this flask with that water."51

I looked out the window. The hill looked like a mountain and it was so far away. I could see that once I got there I would have to climb to get to the water. But then I thought of Eros and how wonderful he made me feel.52

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When I first married Eros, I didn't know who he was. He would always come home at night when he knew I would be asleep. The only way I knew he was there was because he would hold me in his arms and talk to me. Eros would give me treasures beyond my wildest dreams.54

My sisters became jealous of my treasures, and they found that I had never seen him before. They asked me questions that I could not answer unless I had seen him. They convinced me that Eros was a monster and that he would kill me when I least expect it. They wanted me to stab him in the dark.55

I could never do that, but I had to look. One night, when I knew he was asleep, I lit a lamp. A knife was in my hands as well, just in case. Imagine my relief when I found it was the most handsome man I had ever seen. His curly hair adorned his head and his muscles were defined.56

Even though calmness was in my heart, it was not in my hands. The hot oil from my lamp fell on his shoulder and he awoke with a start. He ran away from me after he told me who he was. I called out to him to come back, but he replied "Love can not live where there is no trust."57

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To have someone love you is the most wonderful thing in the world. If you love them back you would do anything for them, including going to the source of the River Styx and getting a flask full of the black water for their deranged mother. Okay, maybe that was a little extreme, but you get the idea.59

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The hill towered above me as it reached toward the endless sky. The black waterfall flowed from a spot in the center and disappeared in a pool some where at the near bottom. There was no way I could get to the pool. I would need wings. I looked around for what I should be looking for what would help me. By now I figured that if I was helped before, I'd be helped again.61

Nothing happened. Did I do something before?62

I started to climb to the waterfall. My arms burned and my fingers began to ache. Suddenly I slipped and fell to the ground. The landing knocked the wind out of me,and for a moment, I laid very still. Surprisingly, the flask did not break in the fall.63

I began to weep. I can not complete this impossible task. I will never see Eros again and I will die alone because I refuse to love anyone else in the entire world.64

In between tears, I looked up to see an eagle circling above me. I eyed me for a moment then dove toward my throat.65

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I closed my eyes and waited for the sharp impending death by an eagle. A rush of wind past my face and I heard a screech near my ear.67

I opened my eyes to see the eagle had landed just to my right. 68

I looked at it.69

It looked at me.70

Then it picked up the flask with its beak and flew away. It flew to the cliff and up to the waterfall. It flew back to me and put the flask on the ground. I picked it up and looked inside. The black water reflected back at me. I went back to Aphrodite.71

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Aphrodite sent me on another task to Hades. She said her beauty was fading because of the stress from caring for her son.73

"I guess he has become depressed and ill by your lack of faith," she said, knowing how it would hurt me.74

"You are to go to the Underworld and ask the Persephone to place a bit of her beauty in this box."75

She handed me a carved, wooden makeup box. It had gold trim on the side and around the frames of the elaborate birds and hearts on the box.76

"Make it quick."77

"But the quickest way for me to go there is to die."78

"Exactly."79

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I decided to throw myself from the highest tower I could find. What was the point of living if I can not be with the one I love?81

There was a tower close to where Aphrodite lived. It was abandoned so I knew no one would interrupt my task, except the gods themselves. When I found the tower, I gave a gulp. I did not need to die just for a man. The tower's roof had fallen in long ago and the walls were deteriorating. Slowly I climbed to the top. The stones would sometimes crumble beneath my foot and sometimes I would think that my end was near. Yet somehow I would catch myself and keep climbing. 82

"Whoa! Who's climbing up my face?" said a voice that seemed to be coming from the brick of the building.83

"Psyche, desperate woman who wishes to end her life." 84

"End your---- now what just a minute. See her madam, but why do you wish to end your life?"85

"Because the love of my life will not speck to me. He is angry with me because I did not trust him. His mother suggested that I go to Hades and fill this box with Persephone's beauty."86

"So he will love you again?"87

"No. It's for her."88

"Oh. Makes sense. You're pretty enough without her help. But why throw yourself from the tower?"89

"It is not like I don't want to do it. It was the only way I could think of to get to Hades."90

"There is a better way."91

"How?"92

"You can enter the underworld another way then death. Just follow the road to the end of the earth and go down to the dark cavern at the foot of the black mountains. You will find the River Styx inside. Take the ferry and cross the river. Make sure you have two coins to pay the ferryman for the journey there and back."93

"But how do I get past the three headed-dog? He makes sure that on one gets in or out."94

"Have you ever wondered why at Greek funeral, the family puts in the piece of cake. It has a sleeping drug in it. Just bring two cakes. One for when you go in and one when you go out."95

"Thank you for the advice," said as I inched for the ground. I had been doing that while he was talking and by now I had got toward the bottom.96

"I have one more tip for you. Do not eat anything whatsoever in the underworld."97

"Why not?"98

"Eat anything and you will be stuck in the realm of Hades forever."99

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