She begins to write her own story of what happened as a rebuttal and a complaint against the gods. Hearing this, Orual is outraged: not only have the gods taken her sister, but they have made her out to be a villain. There, the Priest tells her the sacred story of Istra, which is the original story of Cupid and Psyche, in which Psyche’s sister can see the palace but deliberately ruins her happiness out of jealousy. Many years later, she takes a journey through neighboring kingdoms and comes across a temple dedicated to the goddess Istra.

No punishment appears, however, and she immerses herself in the work of being queen after her father’s death. The god tells Orual that she “also shall be Psyche” (83), and she returns to Glome to await her punishment.

Psyche reluctantly agrees.Īs a result of Orual’s “test,” Psyche’s husband, the god of the mountain, banishes her, and she is later enslaved by Ungit. She returns to the mountain two days later and forces Psyche to take a lamp and look upon her husband, threatening to kill herself if she doesn’t. Orual, already overwhelmed by grief, cannot bear this second separation and decides to rescue her sister. Psyche refuses, stating that she must obey her husband before her sister and insisting that she is speaking the truth: she may not have seen his face but she knows that her husband is a god.

Psyche is astonished and tells Orual that they are sitting in front of it Orual assumes that Psyche is mad or has been subject to a terrible trick and demands that she return to Glome with her at once. She claims to live in a luxurious palace and want for nothing, but Orual is suspicious and asks to see the palace for herself. Psyche explains that she has not been devoured by, but rather married to, Ungit’s son, the god of the mountain. Orual later goes to the mountain to retrieve Psyche’s remains however, she finds Psyche alive and well.

Till we have faces meaning