In a "Note" appended to the novel, Lewis writes that "The story of Cupid and Psyche first occurs in one of the few surviving Latin novels, the Metamorphoses (sometimes called The Golden Ass) of Lucius Apuleius Platonicus, who was born about 125 A.D." After summarizing the original, Lewis says of Apuleius, "in relation to my work he is a 'source', not an 'influence' nor a 'model.'"