Love Story in the Istanbul Archaeology Museum

Seen as a sign at the Archaeology Museum:

Psyche, the youngest of the three daughters of the king of Miletus, is renowned for her beauty. Aphrodite, the goddess of beauty and love does not like this. She cannot accept the fact that a mortal is more beautiful than herself. Therefore, she tells her son Eros, the god of love, to take Psyche to a mountain and give her to a very ugly dragon.
When Eros stealthily approaches to take Psyche away, he falls in love with the girl, sleeping in her bed, and with the help of Zephyros (the west wind) flies the girl to his own palace and takes her as his beloved wife.

Psyche is happy, but she has to abide by one wish of Eros. She must never see his face. Otherwise the magic of their love will be undone and their love will end. Psyche agrees to this, but her sisters lead her astray from her promise. They say that her husband is very ugly, therefore he wants to meet her in the dark, so she should one night look at him secretly. Actually, Psyche is also very curious about Eros.

One night when Eros falls asleep, Psyche wants to look at her beloved under the light of the oil lamp. When she sees how handsome this god of love is, she is much surprised, and in her confusion a drop of oil falls on the naked shoulder of Eros. He suddenly awakes and the magic is undone. So he flies away never to be seen again.

In great pain because of this separation, Psyche looks for her beloved everywhere. She succeeds in all the calamitous and difficult tasks Aphrodite gives her, but always she is given another difficult job. At the end, Zeus makes them come together again. Finally, love and spirit find each other...

Sunset cruise over the Bosphorus, overlooking the Ortaköy Mosque.

Originally written for Moka