As soon as the party of family and friends retreated down the hill, Psyche sat down and cried.
Her father, a king in Ancient Greece, had consulted an oracle about who to marry his youngest daughter Psyche to. It wasn’t that she was ugly – it was that she was so beautiful, men didn’t fall in love with her. Instead they worshipped her as they would Aphrodite, goddess of love and beauty.
The oracle’s prophecy was dark and mysterious – it instructed the king to bring his daughter, dressed in the finest clothes for marraige, to the tallest hill in his kingdom. There a ferocious beast, the most feared by mankind, would make her his bride.
The small parade to escort was more likely to be seen accompanying a funeral. Psyche’s more successful (but less beautiful) older sisters kissed her goodbye. Her mother cried into her shoulder while Psyche assured her everything would be alright, despite her doubts. The king was stony-faced.
Now they were all gone, and the only thing Psyche could hear was the gentle wind…