Cupid and Psyche (Chapter One) -- Teaching Guide

Questions

Facts and Details:

1. How many sisters were in the family?
2. Why did people stare at Psyche?
3. What goddess became jealous of her?
4. Who used his magic so nobody would want to marry Psyche?
5. Who lived in the mansion with Psyche?

Reading Comprehension:

1. Why does Venus ask her son, Cupid, to ruin Psyche’s love life?
2. What are the two reasons that Cupid falls in love with Psyche?
3. Why do Psyche’s parents go to the oracle?
4. Why does Psyche feel that it’s all right for her to have to marry “an inhuman creature”?
5. What clues would lead you to think that Psyche is brave?

In your own words...

Psyche’s husband says he wants her to get to know him, and to love him, before she sees what he looks like. What do you think she will find, when she finally gets to see him? List the clues in the story that make you feel this way.

Backgrounders

This story is unusual in that it comes from one source: Lucius Apuleius, who lived in North Africa in the second century CE. Bulfinch repeats the story, but I wasn’t able to find other ancient sources and this may be a “written story” rather than a folk tale. If so, Apuleius was a brilliant author -- the story has been a favorite of artists and sculptors, not to mention psychologists.

You won’t find much difficulty in getting kids to say what other story this reminds them of -- the elements of the mysterious husband and magic castle of course is repeated in “Beauty and the Beast.” And the theme of “love me for who I am, not for what I am” is similar -- but, wow, is this much earlier version taking it from a different angle! (By the way, "Beauty and the Beast" will be featured on our site in a five-part version, starting September 20!)

Multidisciplinary Connections
(Science/ELA/Geography)

Psyche rides on the back of the West Wind, Zephyr. What is a zephyr? Look up any four of these other names for types of winds, write down their definitions and derivations, then use them each in sentences that demonstrate their meanings:

boreal - harmattan - mistral - pampero - samiel - chinook - favonian - foehn - Santa Ana - sirocco - williwaw - zonda

Answer Key:

Facts and Details:

1. Three
2. She was so beautiful
3. Venus
4. Cupid
5. Her mysterious husband!

Reading Comprehension:

1. She’s jealous, particularly when people compare Psyche to her.
2. Partly because she’s so beautiful, but also because he hit himself with his own arrow!
3. They want to know why their most beautiful daughter hasn’t found a husband and they’re afraid some god is angry with them.
4. She says it was unfair for her to be praised for being beautiful, so she shouldn’t complain when something unfair happens that doesn’t seem pleasant to her.
5. (For instance:) She accepts the oracle’s prediction without panicking or whining, she jumps on Zephyr’s back despite his being invisible, she goes into the castle on her own, etc.