Persephone in Hades

    The earth goddess Demeter had only one daughter, a girl of exceptional loveliness whose happy nature delighted everyone who knew her. Her mother doted on her, and, because she knew that many males, both god and human, might be attracted to her and try to take her away, she took exceptionally good care of her.

    But a young girl can't always be kept at home, so on an especially warm and enticing morning, Persephone went to pick flowers with some of her friends. She strayed too far into a meadow of narcissus, and was seen by the god of the underworld, Hades, who immediately fell in love ith her.

    As her friends left her to go back to their homes, he snatched her up and forced her into his bleak carriage, pulled by two huge black horses. He took the crying and protesting young girl to his home in the underworld, where he intended to keep her forever, as queen of his kingdom. But Persephone could not settle down in her new life. She longed for the light, warmth, and happiness she had known. Most of all she longed for her mother, Demeter.

    When Persephone did not return home with her friends, Demeter went to search for her. No one semed to have seen her anywhere. Demeter flew all around the earth, asking everyone who might know, humans and gods, what could possibly have happened to her lost daughter. But, for a whole year, she could not find even one clue. Because she was so desperate and lonely, she forgot to bless the earth and its vegetation. The land, which had been fruitful and blooming, turned into a frozen desert. It was as if there never had been any warmth or light. Humans and gods were upset. But Demeter hardly noticed their pleas to return the earth to its former green and flowering state. She sat wrapped in a dark robe, mourning her daughter. With no crops and no warmth, it looked as if everyone on earth would starve or freeze to death. Zeus looked down and finally decided that he would have to rescue the earth and its in habitants.

    First he sent some of the other gods to Demeter to try to persuade her to take up her role again. But Demeter refused to allow the earth to bear fruit until she had Persephone safely back at home. Finally Zeus found out where Persephone was and went to see his brother Hades. Hades was ordered to return Persephone to earth immediately. But Hades loved the beautiful, sunny girl and he did not want to give her up. Disobeying Zeus was inpossible, however, so he thought of another plan. He gave Persephone a magic fruit, the pomegranate, to eat. He knew that if she ate any of the red seeds she would be forced to return to him for at least part of each year.

    Then he allowed Hermes to take persephone to her mother, who was overjoyed to have her daughter back. Demeter immediately saw to it that the seeds in the ground began to sprout, that the flowers and the trees burst into bloom, and that the sun returned to warm the earth and its people.

    But every year in the fall Persephone had to go back to Hades, promising her mother she would be back in four months. The magic of the pomegranate seeds had done its work. And when Persephone left, the earth became cold, the flowers died, the fruit and grain no longer grew because Demeter again sank back into greif over her absent daughter.

    Persephone had learned a great deal from her sojourn among the dead. Although she loved to return to earth, she never forgot the sad shades she left behind her every spring. Compassionate and gentle, she tried to help all those who needed her on the earth and in the underworld. Eventually she became one of the most beloved of all beings because, even though she was a goddess and therefore immortal, she also knew death. Ancient Greeks in their final hours often turned for guidance or compassion to the one being who knew both mortality and immortality.

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