Question

What tasks must Psyche perform for Venus? How are they accomplished?

Answer 1

When Psyche was born, Venus was so jealous of her beauty, that she started hating her. However, on top of that, Venus' son Cupid fell in love with Psyche, which angered his mother even more, This is why she had Psyche perform a several seemingly impossible tasks for her. 1. She had to sort out a huge pile of seeds - however, an ant and his friends helped her finish this. 2. She had to retrieve the Golden Fleece - meaning that she had to take the wool from a very violent sheep. She is helped by some plants who tell her that she should gather their fleece at dusk, from the bushes where it may have been caught, and not from the sheep directly. 3. She had to fill a flask with water coming from the River Styx, and she is then helped by Jupiter himself. 4. For her final task, she had to return from the Underworld with a box of beauty ointment of Persephone/Proserpina, which she accomplishes. However, she was too curious to see what was in the box, which is why she opened it, and then fell into a deep sleep. Later on, Cupid finds her and wakes her up, and they finally get married.