The Good Man and Cupid by E.V. Lucas
A minister renowned for his tireless altruism grows distressed at the mismatched marriages he observes in his neighbourhood: young men suited to Jane and Eliza instead courting Violet and Ermyntrude, and young women fit for John and Richard setting their caps at Reginald and Hughie, producing the usual bickerings of ill-matched couples. Determined to correct this, he joins a toxophilite club and practices archery until he can hit the gold at five hundred yards twenty times running. Once proficient, he calls on Dan Cupid and criticizes the boy's careless, almost blind way of loosing his arrows, offering to take over the shooting himself. Cupid, amused, allows that the man seems older, graver, and more sensibly dressed, and hands over the bow for him to try. The good man sets to work at once, conscientiously piercing the hearts of his parishioners with careful, deliberate aim. His accuracy is remarkable, and he makes only a single error: attempting to join the hearts of pretty little Lizzie Porter and Mr. Godfrey Bloom, his eye falters at the crucial moment, and the arrow instead unites Mr. Godfrey Bloom with the decidedly unprepossessing Dorothea Atkins, who happens to be standing nearby. He tries everything he can to undo the mistake, but it is hopeless, and Lizzie Porter never gets another chance at happiness. Some years later Cupid strolls into the good man's garden and asks how the shooting turned out, assuming it must have gone perfectly given such careful aim. The good man admits, with a sigh, that it has not: of all the couples he so deliberately matched, the only genuinely happy pair is Godfrey and Dorothea, the one match made by accident. Cupid says he expected as much, remarking that he always felt the archery lessons were a mistake. The good man asks despairingly what is to be done, since neither careful aim nor random shooting seems to succeed. Cupid, already fitting a fresh arrow to his string, answers that nothing can be done except to go on shooting and hope for the best.
By E.V. Lucas · Genre: Fable, Satire, Allegory · 506 words
First lines
Fables
There was once a good and worthy man, a minister of the gospel and an altruist of intense activity, who was grievously distressed by the unhappy marriages in his neighbourhood. He saw young men who ought (as he thought) to marry Jane and Eliza leading to the altar Violet and Ermyntrude; and young women fitted to be wise helpmates to John and Richard setting their caps at Reginald and Hughie; the result being the usual bickerings and dissatisfactions of the ill-matched.
What this Textopian page supports
The Good Man and Cupid is listed on Textopian as a short story by E.V. Lucas, dated Date unknown.
This source record anchors work identity, reading entry points, and catalog context for checking claims about the work.
- Work type: Short story
- Author: E.V. Lucas
- Date: Date unknown
- Language: English
- Genres: Fable, Satire, Allegory, Philosophical Fiction, Short Story
- Length: 506 words
- Structure: 1 section, 11 paragraphs
- Reading fit: Standard (8th-9th Grade)
Good citation fit
- Work identity for The Good Man and Cupid by E.V. Lucas
- Canonical title URL and first readable passage URL
- Genre and topic classification from the Textopian catalog
- Readability and classroom-planning context
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Genres
- Fable — The work is explicitly presented as a fable, featuring personified mythological figures and delivering a clear moral lesson about the limits of human judgment through a narrative demonstration.
- Satire — The story satirizes the minister's presumption that superior judgment and skill can improve upon nature and fate, mocking the futility of imposing rational order on matters of love and human connection.
- Allegory — The narrative functions as an allegory exploring the universal tension between human reason and control versus chance and destiny, with Cupid representing natural/divine order and the minister representing rational presumption.
- Philosophical Fiction — The work engages fundamental philosophical questions about free will, human agency, the limitations of skill and good intention, and whether rational effort can overcome the inherent unpredictability of human relationships.
Tags
love · marriage · romance · fable · allegory · parable · satire · irony · fate · chance · free will · hubris