Then Psyche cried to him in her grief. “Oh, Pan, you who wander far and near, tell me where is Eros, that I may follow him and find him.”
But Pan answered, “I know not, Psyche. Ask Demeter, the Earth-mother. She is very wise, and if he is on this earth, she is the one who can tell you where to find him.”
So Psyche went on farther and came to where Demeter, the kind Earth-mother, was watching the fields and meadows and the harvesters at their work.
Then Psyche said to her, “Oh, Demeter, you who know all things, tell me where my husband Eros has fled to that I may follow and find him.”
The Earth-mother answered, “He is not on earth, Psyche. When the hot oil fell upon him and burned him, he fled back to Olympus, the home of the gods, for it is there his mother Aphrodite dwells. Now he is with her, for she and she alone can heal the wound that you have caused him.”
Then Psyche wept even more bitterly still, and she said, “I will go to Aphrodite and tell her of my grief and sorrow, and then it may be that she will let me speak with Eros, and that he will forgive me.”
But Demeter replied, “Be careful, Psyche, for Aphrodite hates you with a bitter hatred, and if she could she would gladly destroy you. Eros, too, is angry with you, and you can hardly hope he will forgive you, for you have caused him great sorrow and suffering.”
“Nevertheless,” said Psyche, “I will go to Aphrodite, for unless Eros will forgive me and take me back into his love, I do not care to live.”
So Psyche journeyed on and on until at last she came to Olympus and to the place where Aphrodite had her dwelling. When the goddess saw Psyche she was glad at heart, for she thought, “Now Psyche has come to me it will be a strange thing if I cannot get her entirely into my power and punish her as she deserves.” But even as she thought thus, she wondered at Psyche’s beauty, for it was very great.
Then Psyche asked if she might speak with Eros, but the goddess answered harshly, “Eros has no wish to see you. You deceived and wounded him so that he fled to me for comfort. But I will set you a task to prove you, and if you can perform it, then perhaps I will speak of you to Eros and plead with him to forgive you; but if you fail, then you shall give yourself over to me, for me to do with you as I please.”