TRIPTOLEMOS BECOMES A HERO. DEMETER'S GIFT
Demeter returned to her home among the gods on Mount Olympos. But
before she went she called Triptolemos, an older son of King Keleos to
her and gave him her car which was drawn by winged dragons. There is
nothing more precious to the gods than open, benevolent hearts and
generous hospitality. The poorest and meanest man may be god-like in
generosity, sharing his goods with open hand, as sunshine is poured
out from the heavens. King Keleos had shown himself a most
royal-hearted man in his princely generosity toward the goddess when
she came in the guise of a poor old woman, and Demeter resolved to
bestow upon him and upon mankind, for his sake, a blessing
proportionate to her power and rank.
So she gave to Triptolemos something far better than her magic car and
serpent-steeds. She taught him how to make the plough of iron.
Heretofore men had ploughed the fields with the crudest of ploughs--a
pointed stick, or an iron bar. She taught him how to turn a furrow and
put the seed into it, and cover it up so that the birds should not eat
it.
And when summer came she showed him how to cut the grain, to bring it
in wagons to the barn where he was to thrash it, and to store it away,
keeping each kind separate.
Triptolemos, being carried on his wagon through the air, sowed the
precious grain all over the inhabited world and turned many a barren
waste into a cultivated field. He taught the people everywhere, as
Demeter had taught him, how to cultivate the soil. Thus he became a
great benefactor to all mankind and induced a better way of living.
For when people had farms to take care of, they ceased to roam
aimlessly about the world. They built homes and learned to be
friendly, and from this sprang up the government which should protect
the home and make men happy and comfortable.
Triptolemos received the honors of a god, and the people of Eleusis
built a temple to him close to the acropolis, where some of the stones
of the temple may still be seen. But his best monument is the
cultivated fields of barley, rye, and oats, and all the grains which
from Demeter (Ceres) we call cereals.