Cupid actually gave the rose its thorns. One day Cupid stopped to smell a rose. Hidden within that rose was a bee that shot out and stung him. Exasperated, he drew an arrow and shot it directly at the flower in anger, causing the rose to always sprout thorns.
This god of love and desire is one of the reasons the rose is one of the most celebrated symbols of love in our culture. It appears during and before Valentine’s Day as a symbol of pure and blind love.
Son of Venus, who is the goddess of beauty, this young man was destined to become the prince of love. The legend of his own love story begins when a young woman was hailed for her pristine beauty. Her name was Psyche. Her mother, she became extremely jealous and felt that Cupid would destroy her. She conspired for him to fire one of her magical darts at Psyche. His darts had the power to make a person fall in love with the first person he saw after being pierced. He shouldn’t just shoot him with one of these, but he should make sure the first person he saw was horrible. That way, his reputation would be ruined and the only one on earth proclaimed for her beauty would once again be Venus. Cupid set out on his mission.
He found Psyche and prepared to fire his dart. When he drew the arrow, Cupid accidentally pierced himself. His magic worked on him, and he was head over heels in love with Psyche.
The two became lovers, but Cupid made sure not to allow Psyche to see his face for fear of displeasing her mother. Years passed and Psyche could no longer bear the mystery. He decided that he should see the face of his lover. She tricked Cupid into exposing himself and he got so mad that he ran away from her. Psyche wandered all over the earth in misery, searching for Cupid. Finally, Zeus took pity on her, reunited her with Cupid, and gave them permission to marry.
did you know
Cupid is the father or Pleasure. Not really. He and Psyche gave birth to a daughter, whom they named Pleasure.