“Psyche, do not ask me,” said Eros. “I feel that if they come again, some misfortune will surely fall upon us.”
But still Psyche begged and entreated him to bring them to her, until he could refuse no longer. Again he caused the sisters to fall into a deep sleep, and again Zephyrus bore them to the palace where Psyche awaited them.
But this time the sisters brought but little joy with them. All the while they had been away they had been growing more and more envious of Psyche, so that now they could scarcely hide from her their jealousy of her good fortune.
“Why should Psyche have all these things,” said they to each other, “and we have nothing except such gifts as she is pleased to make to us?”
Then they began to talk to her about her husband. “He must be some horrible monster,” said they. “Otherwise why should he only come in darkness and never let you see him? No doubt he is the very monster for whom you were left upon the mountain. Oh, Psyche! Your fate is surely most unhappy in that you are married to such a creature.”
At first Psyche tried not to listen to them, but still they talked and whispered until at last she became frightened, and each night she dreaded the coming of her husband, fearing he was indeed some monster, and that, in the end, he would devour her.
Then came the last night that her sisters were to be with her, and just before they went to rest they called Psyche to their chamber and gave her a lamp and a dagger.
“Dearest sister, we wish, if possible to save you,” said they. “Here are a lamp and a dagger. To-night, when your husband is sleeping, you must rise quietly from his side and take the lamp and look at him. Then if, as we believe, you find he is a monster, drive this dagger into his heart. So you will rid the world of him and save yourself alive, for unless you do this, he will certainly sometime destroy you.”
Trembling Psyche took the lamp and the dagger and promised to hide them in the little room that was beyond her sleeping chamber and to use the dagger as they directed if she found that what they feared were so. Then she kissed her sisters farewell, for she knew the time had come for them to leave her.
That night Eros came to Psyche as usual, and she let him know nothing of what she and her sisters had planned against him. He was so gentle toward her, and so tender that she could not but love him, and then she remembered her sisters’ warnings and hardened her heart against him.