More Fairytale Elements

When I was translating my section for the translation exercise (chapters 6.9-6.10, if you're interested), I was very excited to discover that it had a very clear echo of Cinderella. Specifically, in my passage Psyche is dragged before Venus, who decides to give her an impossible task: sort out a mound of seeds and separate each seed into a different pile. This is one of the tasks that is commonly given to Cinderella, when she wants to go to the ball. Here is a section from the Grimms' Cinderella:

However, because Cinderella kept asking, the stepmother finally said, "I have scattered a bowl of lentils into the ashes for you. If you can pick them out again in two hours, then you may go with us."
The girl went through the back door into the garden, and called out, "You tame pigeons, you turtledoves, and all you birds beneath the sky, come and help me to gather:

The good ones go into the pot,
The bad ones go into your crop."

Two white pigeons came in through the kitchen window, and then the turtledoves, and finally all the birds beneath the sky came whirring and swarming in, and lit around the ashes. The pigeons nodded their heads and began to pick, pick, pick, pick. And the others also began to pick, pick, pick, pick. They gathered all the good grains into the bowl. Hardly one hour had passed before they were finished, and they all flew out again.
It is interesting to compare this to the passage in Apuleius. The biggest difference is the agency of the heroine. In the German folktale, Cinderella calls for help when she is unable to complete the task. While she cannot do it, she is unafraid of asking for aid. However, Psyche is stupefied and unable to move when Venus assigned her her task. It is up to an ant scurrying by to call for help and make sure the task happens. This fits with Psyche's general character, which is not very proactive. As far as I can tell, pretty much everything has to be managed for her. Cinderella is known for getting aid from outside sources, but this degree of passivity is unusual.