DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.3483#0044
already married, and she alone, in. the solitude of the palace, hated her own
beauties, which all were satisfied to praise without wishing to enjoy.
Her sympathising parents consulted the Oracle, which decreed that Psyche
should be exposed on the point of a rock, dressed in funeral robes; that she
should have no mortal for a husband, but a ferocious and terrific monster, who
flying in the air desolates the earth, and makes the heavens tremble. Her
parents terrified, mingle their tears; they fear, and they obey.
Psyche, exhausted, tremblingly gave herself up to grief and to complaint,
when a Zephyr suddenly lifted her with his soft breath on his light wings into
a valley where he laid her down on a green bank, enamelled with flowers.
There she slept.—What was her astonishment when she awoke, to find, herself
in a palace ornamented with as much taste as magnificence, and above all,
when, without perceiving any person, she heard voices congratulate her, and
supplicate for her commands. The palace resounds with celestial music;
the most delicate viands, and the most exquisite wines, are served up by invi-
sible hands; delicious paintings enchant her eyes; she breathes a balmy air;
all her senses are charmed at once, and every moment they are struck by
changeful novelties.
Night came, and the beautiful Psyche yielded to the softness of repose;
scarcely had she dosed, when a voice, far softer and more melodious than all
the voices she had heard, whispered in her ear. A secret trouble agitates
her; she is ignorant of what she fears. A thousand thoughts distract her
tender imagination; but her husband is with her! He embraces her unseen,
but not unfelt. She is his wife; but her invisible husband disappears with
the day,
Meanwhile the unhappy parents of Psyche were perishing with grief. Her
sisters each day wept at the foot of the rock on which she had been exposed;
with lamenting cries they filled the surrounding valleys; the distant echoes
multiplied their accents, and the winds floated them to the ear of Psyche.
Her affectionate heart palpitated with domestic sympathies; she dwelt on
the thoughts of home, and sighed to console them. The brilliant inchant-
beauties, which all were satisfied to praise without wishing to enjoy.
Her sympathising parents consulted the Oracle, which decreed that Psyche
should be exposed on the point of a rock, dressed in funeral robes; that she
should have no mortal for a husband, but a ferocious and terrific monster, who
flying in the air desolates the earth, and makes the heavens tremble. Her
parents terrified, mingle their tears; they fear, and they obey.
Psyche, exhausted, tremblingly gave herself up to grief and to complaint,
when a Zephyr suddenly lifted her with his soft breath on his light wings into
a valley where he laid her down on a green bank, enamelled with flowers.
There she slept.—What was her astonishment when she awoke, to find, herself
in a palace ornamented with as much taste as magnificence, and above all,
when, without perceiving any person, she heard voices congratulate her, and
supplicate for her commands. The palace resounds with celestial music;
the most delicate viands, and the most exquisite wines, are served up by invi-
sible hands; delicious paintings enchant her eyes; she breathes a balmy air;
all her senses are charmed at once, and every moment they are struck by
changeful novelties.
Night came, and the beautiful Psyche yielded to the softness of repose;
scarcely had she dosed, when a voice, far softer and more melodious than all
the voices she had heard, whispered in her ear. A secret trouble agitates
her; she is ignorant of what she fears. A thousand thoughts distract her
tender imagination; but her husband is with her! He embraces her unseen,
but not unfelt. She is his wife; but her invisible husband disappears with
the day,
Meanwhile the unhappy parents of Psyche were perishing with grief. Her
sisters each day wept at the foot of the rock on which she had been exposed;
with lamenting cries they filled the surrounding valleys; the distant echoes
multiplied their accents, and the winds floated them to the ear of Psyche.
Her affectionate heart palpitated with domestic sympathies; she dwelt on
the thoughts of home, and sighed to console them. The brilliant inchant-