One night she said to her lover, “Am I never again to see my father, nor the sisters who are so dear to me?”
Then the unknown one asked her, “Are you so soon weary of me, Psyche?”
“I am not weary of you,” answered the Princess, “but I long with all my heart to see my sisters that I may know that it is well with them, and that they may know that it is well with me also. If I could see them but once only, then I would be contented.”
Her unknown lover was silent for a while, and then he said. “I love you so dearly that I can refuse you nothing, Psyche. I will bring your sisters here to visit you, but they may stay with you only for three days, and you must tell them nothing of me, however they may question you, and if they offer you advice, you must not take it. Do not even listen to it. Remember, if you disobey me, great sorrow will come upon you and upon me also.”
Psyche was filled with joy at the thought that she was once more to see her sisters, and eagerly she promised to heed the warnings of her lover and to obey him in all things. But all night Eros (for it was he who was her lover) was very sad and silent, for he feared that this wish of Psyche’s would bring some misfortune on them.
The next night Eros caused Psyche’s sisters to fall into a deep sleep, and while they were sleeping Zephyrus, who governs the winds, lifted them up and carried them to a room in Psyche’s palace and left them there.
In the morning, when the sisters awoke, they were amazed to find themselves in an unknown palace, and their wonder was even greater when Psyche came hastening to greet them, and when they found the palace and all that was in it and the gardens round about it were hers, and were all the gift of a lover, who had brought her there the day she was left upon the mountain.
Psyche questioned them about their father and all that had happened since she had left them, and after she had heard all there was to tell, she took them through the palace and showed them the treasures, and led them through the gardens, and they heard the music, and were served by unseen hands. The more they saw, the more they wondered, and they became very envious of Psyche. They asked her about the one who had given her all these things, but Psyche turned these questions aside and would not talk with them of her lover.
At the end of three days, when the time came for her sisters to leave her, Psyche bade them choose what they would have of all they had seen in the palace. She loaded them with jewels and treasures, and nothing they asked for was refused them. Then they fell asleep, and in their sleep Zephyrus carried them back again to their father’s castle, to the place whence he had brought them, and the gifts that Psyche had given them he left beside them.
After this Psyche was contented for a time and then once more she began to long to see her sisters, and she begged Eros to bring them to visit her as before.