Cupid: A Tale of Love and Desire

"Every day around the time people's shadows snuck beneath their feet to get out of the sun, the tall wooden doors to the palace grounds swung open, and Psyche came out to take her daily walk. Men, women, children, and all the creatures stopped what they were doing to look at her. Birds flying by would see Psyche, stop flapping their wings, and fall to the ground. Ants would be toting crumbs which, to them, were as big as China. They could not see anything of Psyche except a sixteenth of an inch of her big toenail, but that was enough for them to be so overcome by her beauty that they dropped their crumbs and just stared." "Had it been another day I might have looked the other way And I'd have never been aware But as it is I'll dream of her tonight" -- Lennon and McCartney, I've Just Seen a Face Julius Lester's irreverent, storyteller's version of the tale of Cupid and Psyche for adolescents is a telling that is in equal parts thoroughly entertaining and exceptionally meaningful to readers young and old. As he states in his author note: "The experience of love is the most central and profound of our lives. Yet we are given no instruction in the ways of love. Popular music and movies are our primary sources for what we think love is and should be, and as entertaining as these media are, the views of love they present are more often expressions of sentimentality instead of representations of the very hard realities of what it means to be human and what the act of loving presents us with." "Love is careless in its choosing - sweeping over cross a baby Love descends on those defenseless Idiot love will spark the fusion Inspirations have I none - just to touch the flaming dove All I have is my love of love - and love is not loving" -- David Bowie, Soul Love In a version for today's readers, Psyche and Cupid are characters with whom we can relate. The first thing we hear out of Psyche's mouth is her telling her father that she doesn't appreciate his deciding what she can do and when she can do it. Meanwhile, Cupid, a hunk with wings, is totally under the thumb of his mom Venus. But that, of course, begins to change after jealous Mom sends Cupid to deal with the problem of Psyche's attracting all of that attention and, Cupid gets an eyeful of what has been making the birds fall out of the sky: "Cupid still could not move, which is not an uncommon response in the presence of beauty. Even gods and goddesses are not exempt from beauty's forbidding and terrifying power. Let there be no mistake: Cupid was afraid. Perhaps more than any of the deities on Olympus, he was the one always in control of himself. Let the other deities entrap themselves in human emotions, but he knew better. And so it was until he saw Psyche. "Now standing there, looking at her, for the first time in his eternal life Cupid faced a choice: maintain control and leave Psyche, or submit to his desire for her and never be wholly in control of his life ever again. (And for him

The book came on time and was in excellent condition! I am still reading the book, and I am very impressed by it. It is an cleverly written version of the Cupid and Psyche story! I highly recommend it!

Everybody knows who Cupid is, right? He's the chubby little guy in diapers, who shoots people with arrows and makes them fall in love. Or at least that's how we picture him. I assume he probably wore diapers at some point, but this isn't that story. If you've ever read or studied any mythology, you know that gods were believed to be a lot like people. They made mistakes, broke the rules, did stupid things, and weren't always nice. This IS that story. Though he is the title character, this story doesn't start with him. It all begins with a beautiful girl named Psyche. Actually, she's more than beautiful. Words don't exist to describe her beauty. Ask the letters, because they tried. Psyche is so amazing to behold that all of the people in the kingdom stop what they're doing to catch a glimpse of her on her afternoon walk. Her father, the king, fearing the economic failure of his country, limits her walks. As with most of the best laid plans, this one backfires. People quit working entirely to hang out by the castle waiting for the next time Psyche leaves. Then people from other kingdoms start to relocate, all to see this incredible creature. Now normally the affairs of humans don't interest the gods. However, Venus, the goddess of love and beauty, gets a little feisty when her temples are being neglected. When she finds out that there is a human who is possibly more beautiful than she is and is stealing her attention... Let's just say the goddess of love is not immune to jealousy. And, being a goddess, she is in a position to cause some trouble. Enter Cupid, son of Venus, sent down to stir up some trouble. Cupid has never been in love. Cupid gets entertainment by making unlikely people fall in love, by making happy couples fall into hate, making people fall in love with people who are already in love with other people, and sometimes making people fall in love with things that aren't people at all. Cupid's really not all that great of a guy sometimes. Venus sends him to earth to take care of Psyche. Except Cupid falls in love with Psyche. That's when the real trouble starts. This is a great story, and worth being retold in any case. This particular retelling had me laughing hysterically. The Story and the Narrator are constantly disagreeing over which points are important enough to include in the tale. They discuss and fight at random intervals, until the Story gets involved in hearing the Narrarator's version of itself. It's hilarious! If mythology had been available in this form when I was studying it, I definitely wouldn't have gotten a "D." Reviewed by: Carrie Spellman