(I have always been really interested in Greek mythology, so I decided to write a different version of one of my favourite Greek myths.)
There once was a girl called Psyche who was the princess of a land which is now lost to us. Her parents were the King and Queen and they lived together with her two sisters. There was just one problem. Although she had a kind soul, Psyche was immensely ugly. Or so everybody thought. Her parents were so caught up on these ridiculous beauty standards, that they forgot what was actually important. They began to favour her sisters because of their beauty. They even decreed that, even though Psyche was the oldest, one of her sisters would get the throne. No one in her kingdom liked her, and thought she was a monster, because their ideas of beauty were narrow and small minded. They didn’t realise what mattered was what was on the inside, not on the outside. Psyche slowly began to agree with them, and eventually started hating herself. If only she was as beautiful as her sisters. Or even of average beauty!
But even in her darkest moments, her sisters stayed with her. They were the only people who saw who she truly was. If only everyone else could see what they saw. Soon, her sisters found wealthy husbands and moved away. But still, they loved each other.
From Olympus, the goddess of love and beauty, Aphrodite, looked down at all of this. She thought that no one, no one, should ever love someone as ugly as Psyche. It was a disgrace to her name! So she sent her son, Eros, to make Psyche’s sisters turn their backs on her. But when Eros arrived, and saw Psyche and her sisters, his jaw dropped. He couldn’t help himself. He fell in love with one of her sisters. Seeing how happy they were together, Eros couldn’t bear to take that happiness away. He went back to Aphrodite, and told her he had done what she’d asked. But eventually Aphrodite found out. She was convinced that Psyche’s sisters had some how bewitched her son. She never even considered the possibility that her son had done anything wrong. She took Psyche’s sisters as prisoners. No one would even care that they were gone! She thought. After all, they were only mortals. Small…Insignificant…Replaceable.
Psyche’s parents died of grief after they found out what had happened. Psyche felt fully responsible for it. She should have taken better care of them. Maybe, if she had just stayed away from her sisters, they would still be all right. She vowed that she would put things right.
Psyche went to Aphrodite, begging her to release her sisters. Aphrodite agreed, but made her do countless trials to get her sisters back, forcing her to do seemingly impossible tasks. But she completed them all. Again, Psyche pleaded with Aphrodite to release her sisters. But she just laughed.
Then, it hit her. Aphrodite had no intention of ever returning her sisters. She was going to be stuck as her slave forever. She ran away, wallowing in despair and self hatred. She was never going to see her sisters again. They were her only light. And now they were gone.
But that despair soon turned into determination. She would find a way to avenge her sisters.
The more she thought about it, the more anger she felt.
Beauty had done this.
Beauty had ripped her family apart.
Beauty was just an ugly thief.
And she was not going to let it, or anyone else take anything away from her, ever again.
Psyche went back to her kingdom, and took her rightful place as queen. And for bit, none of the people thought anything had changed. But they were wrong. Psyche had changed.
Gone was the sweet, innocent girl who had been shamed by her kingdom. Gone was the girl who overcame all those obstacles with the love of her sisters. No. Psyche was not that girl anymore. That girl died a long, long time ago.
Instead, the people were terrorised and scared for their own safety. Psyche wasn’t the type of ruler that took no as an answer.
But as she continued like this, it wasn’t long before what she looked like on the inside, grew to look exactly how she looked like on the outside.
The End