Let me set the stage for you. It was a dark night, a few years back. Having recently been transformed into a dog, I was a little disoriented and out of pocket. I was traveling with some robbers and an old woman goat, and one night the robbers brought back a young girl goat, who seemed severely distressed. In an effort to cheer her up, the old woman goat told her the following story. While it is unbelievable, it was quite entertaining, so I hope you enjoy it as well.
Once there was a little puppy named Penelope. Now Penelope was the cutest puppy you could imagine, and every man and animal, from near and far, came often to visit her. The main attraction of Penelope's hometown was usually the temple to the dog goddess Veronica, but now Penelope was why people traveled great distances, just to glimpse at her and throw her a treat. Veronica was a proud goddess, and grew very angry. She tried to keep calm, but failed, and called upon her puppy son, Calvin, to make amends. Calvin was the dog god of love, and he kept special treats around to make others fall in love.
Penelope's father heard about Veronica's wrath, so he consulted the oracle. Sadly, the oracle gave him a negative outlook for Penelope's future, saying that "she'd have a fateful marriage." So they went about the wedding preparations, and Penelope was very gloomy for the future. However, Penelope ended up in a beautiful and relaxing palace, that must have been built by a god or demigod. She was in awe, and heard voices, but didn't see anyone.
That night, she "met" her husband, who was Calvin. Although, she did not know anything about him or what he looked like. Penelope's family assumed she was dead because they had not heard from her, so her sisters were about to come to the cliff palace. Penelope begged Calvin to let her see her sisters, and he finally conceded. Happily, Penelope ran to meet her doggy sisters. At once, her sisters begged to know more about this "wonderful" husband of Penelope's. Although Penelope was instructed to not reveal anything to her sisters, she struggled with this and her sisters could see through her lies.
Because of this, they pressured Penelope into betraying her husband and sneaking a glance at him in the middle of the night. The sisters were convinced Calvin was a monster, and wanted Penelope to know what she had married. Penelope was nervous, and couldn't fall asleep as her heart beat quickly. Around 2am, she was able to tell that Calvin was asleep. So she slipped quietly from bed and grabbed a candle and illuminated his face. Shocked at how cute of a dog he was, she immediately fell deeper in love.
In the morning, Calvin discovered that Penelope had deceived him, and so he fled. Because she was so much more in love, she wept and was greatly discouraged. Penelope left the palace and wandered and wandered. Veronica was still upset with Penelope, and utilized Matthew, the messenger dog god, to find her. Once Veronica had Penelope, she punished her by giving her three undoable tasks. However, minor gods and spirits had favor on Penelope, and helped her out. This only angered Veronica more.
Finally, enough gods intervened and helped Penelope marry Calvin properly and obtain immortality, so they may be together forever.
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Author's Note
My inspiration for this story was Apuleius' Cupid and Psyche. I tried to keep the original framework of Lucius being turned into a donkey, and then a captured young girl was told this story by an older woman. I made everyone animals, with the focus on dogs. So Lucius turned into a dog, and then the girl and woman are goats. The old woman goat tells the young girl goat the story of Cupid and Psyche, whom are both dogs and Venus is a jealous dog goddess. I tried to stick close to the original story line as well, just changing the characters and minor details along the way to shorten it (as it is very long)! I hope you enjoy!
Story source: Apuleius's Golden Ass, as translated into English by Tony Kline (2013).
Hey Megan! This was a very interesting story to read. And if you are looking to build on it I have some feedback you could use if you want. I wonder how the story would be enhanced if you gave more description about the wedding. It took place very fast and I kind of felt confused when you said Penelope ended up in a very relaxing place and then a few sentences later how her family thought she was dead. I would recommend adding in a couple of sentencing bridging the gap between the time she was married, going to the beautiful place, and then not making contact with her family for several weeks and the thoughts running through her family's minds about what must have happened to her. In this way, it can turn into a bit of a mystery and entice the audience a bit more. Overall I think you did a good job and have a very interesting story to work with!
ReplyDeleteHi Megan! This is such an interesting retelling of Cupid and Psyche! It's funny because I also read another retelling of this same story this week, but it was turned into characters from the Mario universe! I love dogs and honestly reading this put a smile on my face! I really enjoyed the way you ended it with such a cute and happy ending!
ReplyDeleteHi, Megan.
ReplyDeleteThis is Penelope here. I have some notes about my story.
How come I can't see my husband to be? I just can't remember what was blocking his face or preventing me from seeing him. Was he just turned around all the time or did he have a mystical veil? I was hoping that by reading your story (yes, this dog can read) I would be able to remember, but I didn't see anything in there about it. If you retell this story, could you let me know what prevented me from seeing my husband?
I loved the way you told everyone about my sneaky endeavor of finally seeing my husband's face! My heart really was racing. I could hear it beating out of my chest. I'm surprised it didn't wake Calvin up! You did a great job of showing how I felt at that time. Keep up the great work! Woof!
I love this story. It is so cute. I love that the main characters are all dogs and that Cupid and Psyche are represented as puppies. I love dogs so the minute I saw puppy I loved it. The story was also very well written and clear to follow. Also could the use of Puppies also possibly juxtapose puppy love?
ReplyDelete