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.
[Illustration]