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Son of Venus ... the boy with the golden quiver filled with arrows of desire. And perhaps ... for all we know ... and who is there out there may I ask to refute this ... perhaps the great great granddaddy of that other famous archer ... Robin of Lockley ... a/k/a Robin Hood.
They were both great shots (was it genetic) ... piercing hearts at will ... always of course with the most benevolent intent ... either to induce love ... or in order to save one's lady love from the evil clutches of a dastardly sheriff. Lives there a more noble endeavor I ask you ....
Alas ... decent and noble as Robin and Cupid were ... Cupid's mommy ... Venus ... was a bit of a she-dog. She was jealous of Psyche ... the beautiful princess ... and wanted her dead. Mirror mirror on the wall anyone? So she placed Psyche on a rock to await the coming of a monster who would eat her up. But the wind saved Psyche and placed her safely in a dark room where she was visited by one mysterious visitor. Yup. You guessed it. Cupid's hormones were clearly a-raging. He wanted Psyche for his very own. But he had a rule. No looking at his face. At anytime. Ever.
Anyone out there know the word Mishegoss. It's Yiddish and it means craziness. And this attitude of Cupid's was truly a mishegoss. We here at Tidbits are dedicated to teaching language in addition to all the other things we do. This was Yiddish 101. 102 comes later. Put 'em together and whaddya got ... bippety boppety boo!
Cupid clearly had a punitive side. Psyche couldn't resist ... she looked at his face (she was understandably a bit worried) ... and Stupid Cupid blew a gasket. He was out of there. I'm going to make this short. Psyche was devastated. She lost a lover who had an unlimited quiver filled with golden arrows of desire. The keyword here is unlimited. She couldn't handle the loss. So she threw herself in the river in order to drown.
Luckily ... the river refused her death. Things were different in those days ... and if the waters didn't feel like drowning you ... you didn't drown. Try tempting the fates today with those kind of tactics and see what it gets you. Not only did the river not allow her to drown ... but Jupiter--in a godly type whim--decided to give Psyche immortality. Cupid --in my opinion--was at this point a lowly cur without character ... for he returned to Psyche to marry her. Yeah. Sure. Now that she had immortality.
Which brings me to this exquisite piece of jewelry depicting Cupid in all his golden finery shooting his golden arrow into a diamond platinum heart. Value: Approx. $5000.00. How apropos to the story ... dontcha think?
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And there ya have it. That's it for this week folks. Catch you all next week. Benjamin Mark
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