cupid and psyche

There was a king with three beautiful daughters but the most beautiful was his youngest daughter Psyche. Psyche was so beautiful that people started to stop worshiping Venus, the goddess of love and beauty. This was Venus very angry and so she asked her son Cupid to make Psyche fall in love with a horrible monster but when Cupid saw how beautiful she was, he pricked himself instead and fell instantly in love with her. 

Even though Psyche was so pretty, no one wanted to marry her and her parents were concerned so they took her to an oracle. The oracle told Psyche's parents that she was destined to marry a monster and that they must take her on top of a mountain and leave her there. When they did this, the west wind picked her up and carried her to a palace where she was waited on by invisible servants and her new husband would only visit her at night and told her she must never see him.

One night she went into his room with a candle to see him but when she saw that it was Cupid and saw how handsome he was, she was overcome and some wax fell on Cupid's shoulder, waking him up. Cupid then disappeared in a cloud of smoke. Psyche began to worry and eventually went to Venus to ask where Cupid was. Venus was still angry at Psyche and challenged her to various tasks but Psyche passed them all and when Cupid found out what had been going on he asked Jupiter to order Venus to stop tormenting Psyche. Then Psyche and Cupid were married and lived happily ever after.

This story kinda reminds me of Beauty and the Beast. Growing up, Beauty and the Beast was always one of my favorite fairy tales and Belle has always been my favorite princess. I liked Beauty and the Beast better than Cinderella and Sleeping Beauty because Belle always seemed more real, and there was more depth to the relationship between her and the Beast than there was between the other princesses and their prince charming.