husband's bidding; and he bare them down with a gentle blast. "Enter
now," she said, "into my house, and relieve your sorrow in the
company of Psyche your sister."

And Psyche displayed to them all the treasures of the golden house,
and its great family of ministering voices, nursing in them the
malice which was already at their hearts. And at last one of them
asks curiously who the lord of that celestial array may be, and what
manner of man her husband? And Psyche [70] answered dissemblingly,
"A young man, handsome and mannerly, with a goodly beard. For the
most part he hunts upon the mountains." And lest the secret should
slip from her in the way of further speech, loading her sisters with
gold and gems, she commanded Zephyrus to bear them away.

And they returned home, on fire with envy. "See now the injustice of
fortune!" cried one. "We, the elder children, are given like
servants to be the wives of strangers, while the youngest is
possessed of so great riches, who scarcely knows how to use them.
You saw, Sister! what a hoard of wealth lies in the house; what
glittering gowns; what splendour of precious gems, besides all that
gold trodden under foot. If she indeed hath, as she said, a
bridegroom so goodly, then no one in all the world is happier. And
it may be that this husband, being of divine nature, will make her
too a goddess. Nay! so in truth it is. It was even thus she bore
herself. Already she looks aloft and breathes divinity, who, though
but a woman, has voices for her handmaidens, and can command the
winds." "Think," answered the other, "how arrogantly she dealt with
us, grudging us these trifling gifts out of all that store, and when
our company became a burden, causing us to be hissed and driven away
from her through the air! But I am no woman if she keep her hold on