Painting by William Adolphe Bouguereau
賽琪（Psyche）是希臘神話和羅馬神話中的人物。在希臘神話中，她是人類靈魂的化身（Psyche在希臘語意為“靈魂”），常以帶有蝴蝶翅膀的少女的形象出現。據阿普列尤斯的《金驢記》中記載，普賽克是人間一位國王最小的女兒，擁有美麗的容顏，甚至比維納斯更美麗。由於她實在太漂亮了，以致人們不再去崇拜愛與美的女神維納斯，而去崇拜普賽克。但卻沒人把她當作可以追求的女孩。因此，普賽克一直獨身一人。同時，維納斯對此也很是不滿，所以她命令兒子——愛神丘比特把他的箭射向普賽克，讓她愛上一個醜陋的怪物。但是當丘比特看到普賽克的時候，也被她的美貌所吸引，不小心讓金箭劃傷了自己，因此他無可救藥地愛上普賽克。
由於沒有人願意娶她，普賽克的父母非常沮喪，向阿波羅祈求辦法。神諭宣稱普賽克將在一座山峰上嫁給一個可怕的怪物。她的父母決定遵照神諭的指示，這時西風之神將普賽克帶到了山穀，這裏有一座雄偉的宮殿。於是每到夜晚，丘比特都來與普賽克相會，但是普賽克從來沒有看到他的真麵目。後來出於善意，丘比特讓西風之神把普賽克的兩個姐姐帶到了宮殿中。她們看到普賽克美麗的家之後，立刻開始嫉妒起她來。她們騙她說，她嫁給了一個可怕的大毒蛇，讓她晚上趁他睡覺時殺死他。普賽克出於好奇，決定聽從姐姐們的建議。晚上，普賽克拿著燈，看到床上躺著的並不是怪物。普賽克不小心被丘比特的箭刺破，從此愛上了他。但是她不小心將一滴燈油濺落在丘比特的肩上，丘比特驚醒，從窗戶飛走了。
普賽克為了重新見到丘比特，她找到維納斯尋求幫助。維納斯交給她很多難以完成的任務。普賽克曆盡千辛萬苦，並在諸神的幫助下，完成了所有任務。維納斯交給普賽克最後一項任務，是叫普賽克去冥界，把她因照顧丘比特而失去的一天的美麗取回來。普賽克在拿到盒子後，再一次因為好奇而打開了盒子。但是盒子裏裝的不是什麽美麗，而是來自地獄的睡神。普賽克受惑沉沉地睡去。這時候在天上飛翔的丘比特看到了她，喚起了他的同情心。丘比特把睡眠趕走，喚醒了他的妻子。宙斯被他們之間的愛感動，賜予普賽克永生，維納斯也原諒了她。他們從此幸福的生活在一起。
(wikipedia)
A stunningly beautiful girl, Psyche, is born after two older sisters. People throughout the land worship her beauty so deeply that they forget about the goddess Venus. Venus becomes angry that her temples are falling to ruin, so she plots to ruin Psyche. She instructs her son, Cupid, to pierce the girl with an arrow and make her fall in love with the most vile, hideous man alive. But when Cupid sees Psyche in her radiant glory, he shoots himself with the arrow instead.
Meanwhile, Psyche and her family become worried that she will never find a husband, for although men admire her beauty, they always seem content to marry someone else. Psyche's father prays to Apollo for help, and Apollo instructs her to go to the top of a hill, where she will marry not a man but a serpent. Psyche bravely follows the instructions and falls asleep on the hill. When she wakes up, she discovers a stunning mansion. Going inside, she relaxes and enjoys fine food and luxurious treatment. At night, in the dark, she meets and falls in love with her husband.
She lives happily with him, never seeing him, until one day he tells her that her sisters have been crying for her. She begs to see them, but her husband replies that it would not be wise to do so. Psyche insists that they visit, and when they do, they become extremely jealous of Psyche's beautiful mansion and lush quarters. They deduce that Psyche has never seen her husband, and they convince her that she must sneak a look. Confused and conflicted, Psyche turns on a lamp one night as her husband lies next to her.
When she sees the beautiful Cupid asleep on her bed, she weeps for her lack of faith. Cupid awakens and deserts her because Love cannot live where there is no trust. Cupid returns to his mother, Venus, who again decides to enact revenge on the beautiful girl.
Psyche, meanwhile, journeys all over the land to find Cupid. She decides to go to Venus herself in a plea for love and forgiveness, and when she finally sees Venus, the great goddess laughs aloud. Venus shows her a heap of seeds and tells her that she must sort them all in one night's time if she wants to see Cupid again. This task is impossible for one person alone, but ants pity Psyche and sort the seeds for her. Shocked, Venus then orders Psyche to sleep on the cold ground and eat only a piece of bread for dinner. But Psyche survives the night easily. Finally, Venus commands her to retrieve a golden fleece from the river. She almost drowns herself in the river because of her sorrow, but a reed speaks to her and suggests that she collect the golden pieces of fleece from the thorny briar that catches it. Psyche follows these instructions and returns a sizable quantity to Venus. The amazed goddess, still at it, now orders Psyche to fill a flask from the mouth of the River Styx. When Psyche reaches the head of the river, she realizes that this task seems impossible because the rocks are so dangerous. This time, an eagle helps her and fills the flask. Venus still does not give in. She challenges Psyche to go into the underworld and have Persephone put some of her beauty in a box. Miraculously, Psyche succeeds.
On her way toward giving the box to Venus, she becomes curious, opens the box, and instantly falls asleep. Meanwhile, Cupid looks for Psyche and finds her sleeping. He awakens her, puts the sleeping spell back in the box, and takes her to Zeus to request her immortality. Zeus grants the request and makes Psyche an immortal goddess. She and Cupid are married. Venus now supports the marriage because her son has married a goddess—and because Psyche will no longer distract the men on earth from Venus.
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