Pints with Jack, Season 3, Episode 19.

Cupid and Psyche, the myth, told.

Good morning and welcome to Pints with Jack, a podcast where two enthusiastic CS Lewis amateurs get together, share a beverage,

and discuss a work of C.S. Lewis. This season, we're reading till we have faces.

My name is David, and I'm joined by no one. Today is a bonus episode. So if you recall,

back when I interviewed Christine Norville, I said that my plan was to read the

Cupid and Psyche myth between part one and part two of Two We Have Faces. And several people

reached out to me and affirmed me in that. They said that it's really helpful to know the original

myth, particularly when you're going through part two. So I thought rather than just simply

tell all the listeners to go and find a version and read it themselves, I thought I'll take

an episode out and I'll read you the story of Cupid and Psyche. And I decided to read the same

version which is in Christine's own book, in her reading

companion, and it can be found in Thomas Ballfinches, The Age of Fable. There are other versions

out there, but I thought I'd go with this one. So whereas To We Have Faces has the subtitle

of A Myth Retold, here is the original myth, or at least a version of it.

A certain king and queen had three daughters. The charms of the two elder were more than common,

but the beauty of the youngest was so wonderful that the poverty of language is unable to express its due praise.

The fame of her beauty was so great that strangers from neighboring countries came in crowds to enjoy the sight and looked on her with amazement,

paying her that homage which is due only to Venus herself.

In fact, Venus found her altars deserted,

while men turned their devotion to this young virgin. As she passed along, the people sang

her praises and strewn her way with chaplets and flowers.

...