EMETER had the care of all the plants, fruits and grains in the world.

She taught the people how to plow the fields and plant the seeds.

She helped them gather in their harvests.

They loved the kind earth-mother and gladly obeyed her.

They also loved her daughter, the beautiful Persephone.

Persephone wandered all day in the meadows among the flowers.

Wherever she went the birds, singing merrily, flocked after her.

The people said, “Where Persephone is, there is the warm sunshine.

“Flowers bloom when she smiles.

“Listen to her voice; it is like a bird’s song.”

Demeter wished always to have her child near her.

One day Persephone went alone into a meadow near the sea. She had made a wreath for her hair, and gathered all the flowers that her apron could hold.

Far away across the meadow she saw a white flower gleaming. She ran to it and found that it was a narcissus, but far more beautiful than any she had ever seen.

On a single stem were a hundred blossoms. She tried to pick it, but the stem would not break. With all her strength she grasped it, and slowly it came up by the roots.

It left a great opening in the earth which grew larger and larger.

Persephone heard a rumbling like thunder under her feet. Then she saw four black horses coming toward her from the opening.

Behind them was a chariot made of gold and precious stones.

In it sat a dark, stern man. It was Hades.

He had come up from his land of darkness, and was shading his eyes with his hands.

He saw Persephone, beautiful with flowers, and instantly caught her in his arms and placed her in the chariot beside him.

The flowers fell from her apron. “Oh! my pretty flowers,” she cried, “I have lost them all.”

Then she saw the stern face of Hades.

Frightened, she stretched out her hands to kind Apollo who was driving his chariot overhead. She called to her mother for help.

Hades drove straight toward his dark underground home.

The horses seemed to fly. As they left the light, Hades tried to comfort Persephone.

He told her of the wonders of his kingdom. He had gold and silver and all kinds of precious stones.

Persephone saw gems glittering on every side as they went along, but she did not care for them.

Hades told her how lonely he was, and that he wished her to be his queen and share all his riches.

Persephone did not want to be a queen. She longed only for her mother and the bright sunshine.

Soon they came to the land of Hades.

It seemed very dark and dismal to Persephone, and very cold, too.

A feast was ready for her, but she would not eat.

She knew that any one who ate in Hades’ home could never return to earth again.

She was very unhappy, though Hades tried in many ways to please her.

Everything on the earth was unhappy, too.

One by one the flowers hung their heads and said, “We cannot bloom, for Persephone has gone.” The trees dropped their leaves and moaned, “Persephone has gone, gone.”

The birds flew away and said, “We cannot sing for Persephone has gone.”

Demeter was more miserable than any one else. She had heard Persephone call her, and had gone straight home. She searched all the earth for her child. She asked every one she met these questions, “Have you seen Persephone? Where is Persephone?”

The only answer she ever received was, “Gone, gone, Persephone is gone!”

Demeter became a wrinkled old woman. No one would have known that she was the kind mother who had always smiled on the people.

Nothing grew on the earth and all was dreary and barren.

Demeter said that she would do nothing until Persephone returned to her.

It was useless for the people to plow the soil.

It was useless to plant the seeds. Nothing could grow without the help of Demeter.

All the people were idle and sad.

When Demeter found no one on earth who could tell her about Persephone, she looked up toward the sky. There she saw Apollo in his bright chariot. He was not driving as high in the sky as he was wont to do.

Often he gathered dark mists about him so that none saw him for many days.

Demeter knew that he must know about Persephone, for he could see all things on earth and in the sky.

Apollo told Demeter that Hades had carried Persephone away and that she was with him in his underground home. Demeter hastened to the great father Zeus, who could do all things.

She asked him to send to Hades for her daughter. Zeus called Hermes. He bade him go as swiftly as the wind to the home of Hades. Hermes whispered to everything on the way that he was going for Persephone so that all might be ready to welcome her back.

He soon arrived in the kingdom and gave Hades the message from Zeus. He told about the barren earth and of how Demeter was mourning for her child. He said she would not let anything grow until Persephone came back. The people must starve if she did not soon return.

Then Persephone wept bitterly, for that very day she had eaten a pomegranate and swallowed six of its seeds.

Hades pitied her and said that she need only stay with him one month for each seed she had eaten.

Joy gave her wings, and as swiftly as Hermes himself, Persephone flew up into the sunshine.

Apollo saw her and rose higher and higher into the sky. A gentle breeze came rustling from the southeast, and whispered something to everything he met.

Suddenly the flowers sprang up; the birds flocked together and sang; the trees put on bright green leaves.

Everything, great and small, began to say in his own language, “Be happy for Persephone has come! Persephone has come!”

Demeter saw these changes and was puzzled. “Can the earth be ungrateful? Does she so soon forget Persephone?” she cried.

It was not long however before her own face became beautiful and happy, for she held again her beloved child in her arms.

When Demeter found that Persephone could stay with her only half the year, she brought out the choicest treasures from her storehouse and while Persephone stayed, the world was filled with beauty and joy.

When she had gone, Demeter covered the rivers and lakes, and spread a soft white blanket over the sleeping earth.

Then she, too, fell asleep and dreamed such pleasant dreams that she did not awake until she felt Persephone’s warm kiss on her forehead.