Editing Cupid and Psyche (section)

====Wanderings and trials====
In the course of her wanderings, Psyche comes upon a temple of [[Ceres (mythology)|Ceres]], and inside finds a disorder of grain offerings, garlands, and agricultural implements. Recognizing that the proper cultivation of the gods should not be neglected, she puts everything in good order, prompting a [[theophany]] of Ceres herself. Although Psyche prays for her aid, and Ceres acknowledges that she deserves it, the goddess is prohibited from helping her against a fellow goddess. A similar incident occurs at a temple of [[Juno (mythology)|Juno]]. Psyche realizes that she must serve Venus herself.

Venus revels in having the girl under her power, and turns Psyche over to her two handmaids, Worry and Sadness, to be whipped and tortured. Venus tears her clothes and bashes her head into the ground, and mocks her for conceiving a child in a sham marriage. The goddess then throws before her a great mass of mixed wheat, barley, poppyseed, chickpeas, lentils, and beans, demanding that she sort them into separate heaps by dawn. But when Venus withdraws to attend a wedding feast, a kind ant takes pity on Psyche, and assembles a fleet of insects to accomplish the task. Venus is furious when she returns drunk from the feast, and only tosses Psyche a crust of bread. At this point in the story, it is revealed that Cupid is also in the house of Venus, languishing from his injury.

[[File:Giulio Romano - Psyche's Second Task (River Deity) - WGA09570.jpg|thumb|left|''Psyche's Second Task'' ([[Mannerism|Mannerist]], 1526–28) by [[Giulio Romano (painter)|Giulio Romano]], from the [[Palazzo del Tè]]]]
At dawn, Venus sets a second task for Psyche. She is to cross a river and fetch golden wool from violent sheep who graze on the other side. These sheep are elsewhere identified as belonging to [[Helios]].<ref>By the 6th-century mythographer [[Fabius Planciades Fulgentius|Fulgentius]]; Joel C. Relihan, ''Apuleius: The Tale of Cupid and Psyche'' (Hackett, 2009), p. 65.</ref> Psyche's only intention is to drown herself on the way, but instead she is saved by instructions from a divinely inspired reed, of the type used to make musical instruments, and gathers the wool caught on [[Thicket|briers]].

For Psyche's third task, she is given a crystal vessel in which to collect the black water spewed by the source of the rivers [[Styx]] and [[Cocytus]]. Climbing the cliff from which it issues, she is daunted by the foreboding air of the place and dragons slithering through the rocks, and falls into despair. Jupiter himself takes pity on her, and sends his eagle to battle the dragons and retrieve the water for her.