And Psyche answered, “No task is too hard for me if only Eros will forgive me.”
So Aphrodite took her into a room where there was a great heap of every kind of grain, barley and millet and wheat and poppy and beans and many others, and they were all mixed together so that it was difficult to tell one from another.
Then Aphrodite said, “Your task is to separate these seeds one from another. Each kind must be put by itself in a separate heap, and all this must be done before evening.” So saying, Aphrodite turned away and left her.
As Psyche looked at the heap of grain, she knew the task that Aphrodite had set her was one that it was impossible to perform, and she was frightened at the thought of what Aphrodite might do to her if she failed.
Now though Eros was still angry with Psyche, he had no wish to leave her entirely to the cruelty of his mother, so he sent an army of ants to help her. Thousands upon thousands he sent, and the ants seized the grains and dragged them apart, each kind to itself, while Psyche watched and wondered. As if by magic the heap was separated, and each kind of grain was gathered off by itself, and when the task was finished the ants disappeared again; not one of them was left.
Toward evening Aphrodite came to the room where she had left Psyche, and her heart was filled with triumph, for she had no doubt but that she would find the task unfinished and would then have the Princess in her power.
But what was her rage and wonder to find the grains separated and lying in different heaps about the room, each kind by itself as she had commanded.
“And now will you ask Eros to forgive me?” asked Psyche timidly.
But Aphrodite answered, “Wait until to-morrow. Then we will talk of it.”
But the next day the goddess set another task for Psyche. She bade her go out to where her sheep were pastured, and fetch her back a bagful of their golden wool.