In the very first lines, the author declares that he is not going to sing the military feats of antiquity; he writes not for fame, "But so that in the hours of coolness, fun and peace / Chloe laughed pleasantly."

Following Apuleius and Lafontaine, the author wants to glorify Dushenka, although he realizes that his free, versatile verse does not compare with the verses and prose of his predecessors.

In ancient Greece, in Jupiter’s time, when the “imperious tribe” multiplied so much that each city has its own special king, one monarch still stands out from the rest by wealth, good looks and kindness, and most of all by the fact that he has three beautiful daughters. But the youngest daughter still outshines the beauty of the others with her appearance. For the Greeks, this beauty is called Psyche, which means "soul"; Russian narrators call her Darling.

The glory of the youngest princess spreads everywhere, and now the “fun, laughter, games cathedral”, cupids and marshmallows leave Venus and run away to Darling. Nobody brings sacrifices or incense to the goddess of love. Soon, the spiteful spirits inform the goddess that Venus’s servants have been taken over by Darling, and although the princess didn’t even think about angering the gods, they add that she did this to annoy Venus. Having believed their lies, the angry goddess immediately flies to her son Amur and begs him to intercede for her scolded honor, to make Darling ugly so that everyone turns away from her, or give her a husband who is worse than anyone in the world.

Cupid, to reassure his mother, promises to take revenge on the princess. And soon the message comes to Venus that Darling is abandoned by all; former admirers do not even come close to her, but only bow from afar. Such a miracle stirs up the minds of the Greeks. Everyone is lost in conjecture ... Finally, Venus announces to all of Greece what the gods are angry at and promises terrible troubles if Darling is not brought to her. But the king and all relatives unanimously refuse the goddess.

Meanwhile, Darling cries out to Amur in tears: why is she alone, without a spouse, even without a friend? Her relatives everywhere are looking for her suitors, but, fearing the wrath of the gods, no one wants to marry the princess. In the end, it was decided to turn to the Oracle, and the Oracle replies that the fate-appointed spouse for Dushenka is a monster that poisons everyone, tears hearts and carries a quiver of scary arrows, and for the girl to unite with him, she must be taken to the top of the mountain, where until now no one visited, and left there.

Such an answer plunges everyone into sorrow. It is a pity to give the girl to some kind of monster, and all the relatives declare that it is better to endure persecution and adversity than to take Dushenka to the victim, especially since it is not even known where. But the princess out of generosity (or because she wants to have a husband, anyway, what kind) she herself tells her father: "I must save you with my misfortune." And where to go, Darling decides simply: horses harnessed to the carriage must be started without a coachman, and let fate itself lead her.

After a few weeks, the horses themselves stop at some mountain and do not want to go any further. Then Darling is led to a height without a road, past abysses and caves, where some evil creatures roar. And at the top, the king and his entire court, saying goodbye to the girl, leave her alone and, heartbroken, leave.

However, Darling does not stay there for long. The invisible Zephyr picks her up and raises her to the "village of heaven unknown to her." The princess falls into magnificent halls, where nymphs, cupids and marshmallows fulfill all her wishes. At night, her husband comes to Darling, but since he is in the dark, the girl does not know who she is. The husband himself answers her questions that for the time being she should not see him. In the morning he disappears, leaving Darling perplexed ... and in love.

It takes the princess several days to explore the luxurious chambers and the adjacent forests, gardens and groves, which show her many wonders and wonders. And once, having gone deeper into the forest, she finds a grotto leading to a dark cave, and, having entered there, finds her husband. Since then, Darling comes to this grotto every day, and every night her husband visits her in the bedchamber.

So three years pass. Darling is happy, but she is haunted by the desire to find out what her husband looks like. However, he only begs for all her requests, so that she does not seek to see him, is obedient to him and does not listen to any advice in this matter, even from her closest relatives.

One day, Darling finds out that her sisters came to look for her to that terrible mountain where the princess was once abandoned. Darling immediately tells Zephyr to transfer them to her paradise, kindly meets and tries to "amuse them all". When asked where her husband is, she first answers: “There is no home,” but then, unable to stand it, she confesses to all the oddities of her marriage. She does not know that her sisters, envious of her, only dream of depriving Darling of her happiness. Therefore, they say that they allegedly saw a terrible snake crawling into the grotto, and that this is de Dushenkin’s spouse. She, horrified, decides to commit suicide, but the malevolent sisters object to her that at first she, as an honest woman, must kill the monster. They even get and bring her a lamp and a sword for this purpose, and then return home.

The night is coming. After waiting for the husband to fall asleep, Darling lights him with a lamp ... and discovers that it is Cupid himself. In admiration, admiring him, she accidentally spills oil from an oil lamp on her husband's thigh. Waking up from pain, he sees a naked sword and thinks that his wife has planned evil on him. "And then Darling, having fallen, has died out." She comes to her senses on the same mountain where she said goodbye to her relatives a long time ago. The poor thing realizes that she herself is to blame for this misfortune; she sobs loudly, screams, asks for forgiveness. Cupid, furtively watching her, already wanted to rush at the feet of her lover, but, having come to her senses, comes down to her, as it should be to God, in all the splendor of her greatness and announces that the transgressing law, Darling, is now out of favor with the gods, and therefore he is no longer maybe with her together, but leaves her destiny. And, not listening to her excuses, disappears.

The unfortunate princess remains only suicide. She rushes into the abyss, but one of the marshmallows picks it up and carefully transfers it to the lawn. Having decided to kill herself, Darling is looking for a sharp stone, but all the stones in her hands turn into pieces of bread. The branches of the tree on which she wants to hang herself lower her unharmed to the ground. Mollusks prevent her from drowning in the river. Noticing a fire in the woods on the shore, the princess tries to burn herself, but an unknown force extinguishes the flame in front of her.

"Fate has appointed that Darling live / And in life would suffer." The princess tells the old fisherman who returned to his firewood about his misfortunes and learns from him - alas! - that new troubles await her: Venus has already sent letters everywhere, in which she demands that Darling be found and introduced to her, but they did not dare to hide under the fear of her anger. Realizing that it is impossible to hide all the time, poor Darling asks for the help of the most powerful goddesses, but Juno, Ceres and Minerva refuse her for one reason or another. Then the princess goes to Venus itself. But, having appeared in the temple of the goddess of love, the beauty attracts all eyes to herself; people take it for Venus, kneels ... and just at that moment the goddess herself enters.

In order to take revenge on Dushenka properly, Venus makes her her slave and gives her such assignments from which she must die or at least become ill. On the very first day, she orders the princess to bring living and dead water. Having learned about this, Cupid tells his servants to help Darling. Faithful Zephyr immediately transfers his former mistress to that lot where such waters flow, explains that the snake of Gorynich Miracle-Yud, which guards the water, needs to be treated with a drink, and hands her a large flask with a snail for the snake. So Darling performs the first order.

Venus gives the princess a new business - to go to the Hesperides garden and bring from there golden apples. And the garden is guarded by Kashchey, who puzzles all who come to puzzles, and whoever can not guess them, eats. But Zephyr previously tells Dushenka answers to riddles, and she honorably carries out the second assignment.

Then the goddess of love sends the princess to hell for Proserpine, ordering to take a pot there and, without looking into it, bring it to her. Thanks to the advice of Zephyr, Dushenka manages to safely go to hell and return back. But, not curbing her curiosity, she opens the pot. Thick smoke flies out from there, and the princess’s face is immediately covered with blackness, which can neither be erased nor washed off. Being ashamed of her appearance, the unfortunate woman hides in a cave with the intention of never leaving.

Although Cupid, trying to please Venus, pretended not to think about Darling, he did not forget either her or her sisters. He tells the sisters that he intends to take both of them as spouses, and let them only climb the high mountain and rush down - Zephyr will immediately pick them up and bring them to him. Overjoyed sisters hurry to jump into the abyss, but Zephyr only blows them in the back, and they break. After this, Cupid, describing his mother how Dushenka made friends, seeks permission from the satisfied goddess to reconnect with his wife - because he loves in her not a transient appearance, but a beautiful soul. He finds Darling, speaks to her, and they forgive each other.

And when their marriage is recognized by all the gods, Venus, judging that it is unprofitable for her to keep an ugly girl in her own family, returns her former beauty to her daughter-in-law. Since then, Cupid and Darling live happily ever after.