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Demeter and Persephone
There was a time when the corn-mother Demeter, the sister and at the same time one of the wives of Zeus, poured out her blessings on the earth in the same abundance all the year round. That was before her griefs estrangerd her from the councils of the gods.
Demeter bore a child to Zeus, the slender-ankled maiden Persephone, who grew up in surpassing beauty. When Zeus' brother Hades, the dark ruler of the underworld, asked for her in marriage, Zeus swore that he should have her, whatever the mother might say. The two brothers called in Earth to help them, and the three of them together laid a plot.
One day Persephone went to play with the daughters of Ocean in the meadows of Enna, in Sicily, away from her mother, and wandered here and there with her companions gathering the flowers of all the seasons that were blooming there together. At the will of Zeus, Earth sent up from her lap a new flower, a wonderful sight for mortal men or deathless gods, a bright narcissus with a hundred blooms growing from a single stalk. The sweetness of its perfume delighted the heavens and the earth and made the sea laugh for joy. Persephone stood amazed at the flower's beauty; then as she stretched out her hand to pick it, suddenly the earth gaped, a wide chasm opened at her feet, and out of it sprang Hades in his golden chariot, drawn by deathless coal-black horses. Seizing her before she could find the power to move, he set her in his chariot and drove the horses forward.
As long as Persephone could still see the earth and the broad sky and the sea with its crowding fish, she was calm and quiet. But when the tall gates of Hades' realm came in sight and earth seemed to be lost behind her, she gave a shrill cry, so that the heights of the mountains and the depths of the sea rang with her immortal voice. Her father Zeus heard her sitting in his temple receiving the offerings of men, and Demeter heard her, and the cry gilled her heart with grief and fear. She rent her head-dress apart with her hands, and casting over her shoulders a dark-blue cloak, she hastened like a wild bird in search of her child, over the firm ground and the unstable sea. But there was no one who was willing to tell the truth, even among those who knew it. For nine days and nights, majestic Demeter searched over the earth, with flaming torches in her hands, so grieving that she would neither partake of the food of the gods nor refresh her body with water.
On the tenth day the dark goddess Hecate approached her, with a torch in her hand, saying, "Lady Demeter, who brings on the season and bestows good gifts, who of heavenly or mortal men has stolen away Persephone and piercing your heart with sorrow? For I heard her voice as she cried out, but I did not see the event."
Together Hecate and Demeter approached the sun-god Helios, who watches the doings of both gods and men. Standing before his horses, Demeter asked him whether he had seen the theft of her child, Helios replied to her, "Queen Demeter, daughter of Rhea, I pity you in your grief for your slim-ankled daughter. One alone of all the deathless gods is to blame, and that is the cloud-gathering Zeus, who gave her to his brother to wife; and Hades it was who seized her, and took her in his chariot despite her loud cries down to his kingdom of mist and gloom. But, goddess, cease your lamenting: the divine ruler of a third part of the world is not an unfitting husband for your child." So saying, he hastened on his horses urging them to forward up for the time he had lost.
At Helios' words the grief in Demeter's heart became more terrible and savage, and she was so angry with Zeus that she forsook the assemblies of the gods and the high places of Olympus, wandering unknown among the cities and fields of men; and during the whole time of her mourning, the seed remained hidden in the ground and the new leaves and sprouts remained closed in the plants so that no new crop came in response to men's labours.
At last Demeter came to Eleusis, ruled over by King Celeus, and she sat down in her distress by a well outside the town, looking like an old and weary woman. There the four daughters of Celeus met her when they came out to draw water. Not recognizing the goddess, they asked her who she was and why she did not come into the town in search of hospitality. Then Demeter, to explain why she had come alone to a strange city, told them that she had been carried away by pirates from her native Crete and had only now escaped. "But take pity on me, maidens and tell me to what house I may go to find work suitable to my age. I can nurse a newborn child, and keep house, and supervise the women in their work."
The eldest of the daughters of Celeus replied, "None of the women who run the households of our town would send you away if you came to them, but rather they would welcome you; for there is something gracious in your appearance. But if you will, stay here, and we will go home and tell our mother, the lady Metaneira, all your story, so that you may come to our house rather than any other. She nurses in the hall her infant son, late-born, long prayed for, and welcome; and if you brought him up to the age of young manhood, our mother would hasten to reward you in gratitude."
The goddess agreed, and the maidens hurried home with their pitchers. When they found their mother and told her what had passed, she told them to bring the stranger with them with all the speed they could. Catching up the folds of their garnments, they hastened back to the goddess as she waited by the roadside, and led her back to their father's house. They hastened ahead like young deer in the springtime, while Demeter in the grief of her heart walked behind, with her head veiled, draped in the dark-blue cloak that floated around her slender feet.
Soon they came to the house of the just Celeus, and passed through the gateway to where the stately Metaneira sat, leaning against the pillar, with her little son in her arms. As the goddess passed through the entrance, she seemed taller than before, and a divine light glowed around her. Metaneira greeted her with reverence and kindness; but for all that she could do, Demeter would neither sit in a comfortable place nor take food or drink nor smile, so great was her grief.
At Metaneira's request, Demeter undertook to nurse her young son Demophoon, and the child throve under her care, growing like one of the gods. By the day Demeter gave him ambrosia, the food of the gods, and at night, when all the house was asleep, she would hold him in the heart of the fire to burn away what was mortal from his nature. By her power she would have made him ageless and deathless forever, if Metaneira had not one wakeful night stood at the door of her scented chamber and seen her, and cried out in fear, "Demophoon, my little son, is the stranger woman burning you in the fire?" Demeter in anger snatched the child from the flames and let him fall onto the palace floor, exclaiming to Metaneira, "You mortals are blind to your destiny, whether good or evil, and never see aright what comes upon you. Your folly has undone my work. I would have made your son ageless and deathless forever, and have bestowed eternal honour upon him, but now he cannot escape death and the fate of men. But he shall have honour all his life, because he was the nursling of the goddess Demeter and lay on my knees and slept in my arms."
So saying, she cast off her old age and weakness: beauty spread around her, and sweet fragrance drifted from her robes, and the house was filled with a brightness like lightning. And she went out from the palace.
When she had gone, for a long time Metaneira was unable to speak or move, or even to pick up her son from the floor. But his sisters heard his pitiful wailing and sprang out of their comfortable beds; they gathered around him as he struggled, and picked him up and caressed him; but they were less skilful than the divine nurse he had lost, and his heart was not comforted.
When Demeter had travelled far from Eleusis, she sat down and continued to grieve for her daughter. It was a very cruel year for all mankind, since Demeter kept the seed hidden in the ground and the oxen ploughed the fields in vain. Fearing that she would destroy the whole race of men, and that the gods on Olympus would be without their customary honours and sacrifices, Zeus sent Iris, the rainbow-goddess who carries messages for the gods, to speak to Demeter where she sat veiled in her dark-blue cloak in one of her temples.
"Demeter, Father Zeus the all-wise calls you to come back to the councils of the eternal gods; come with me, then, and do not disregard his message."
So said Iris; but her words did not soften the heart of Demeter. Zeus then sent all the eternal and blessed gods to persuade her, offering her gifts and anything else she might wish. But she was still so angry that she swore she would never set food in Olympus nor let the crops grow until her own fair daughter was restored to her sight.
And when great Zeus saw that she would not relent, he sent swift-footed Hermes down to the underworld, to win over Hades with soft persuasion and bring back Persephone to the light, so that her mother might see her and give up her anger. Hermes descended to the underworld, where he found Hades in his house seated on a couch, with his sad bride beside him. Approaching, he addressed the dark-haired ruler: "King Hades, lord of the dead, Zeus has commanded me to bring the lovely Persephone up to the realm of the gods, so that her mother may see her and cease to be angry with the immortal gods. For now, she sits in her temple apart from the gods, brooding a plan to keep the seed hidden forever in the earth, and so destroy the feeble tribes of men and the honours of the deathless gods."
So he spoke. And Hades, lord of the dead, smiled a grim smile and obeyed the command of Zeus, urging Persephone to return with the messanger. But when she joyfully sprang up to prepare for her return, he took her aside and secretly gave her to eat the seeds of the sweet pomegranate, so that she might not remain forever with her lady mother. Then he harnessed his immortal horses to the golden chariot, and she mounted, and strong Hermes took the reins and whip in his hands and drove swiftly upwards from the dark realm of Hades. And they travelled over land and sea, stopping for nothing until they came to the place where Demeter brooded in her temple.
When Demeter saw them she hastened out to meet them, while Persephone leaped from the chariot and ran and embraced her. But while Demeter still held her dear daughter in her arms, suddenly she began to fear some deception, and she stopped caressing her and asked, "Tell me, my child, surely you did not taste food while you were in the underworld? For if you did not, you can leave the hateful king of the dead forever and live with me and your father, Zeus of the dark clouds; but if you have tasted food, you must go back again to the secret places of the earth for a third part of every year."
Then Persephone wept, and told how she had been persuaded to eat the pommegranate before her long journey to the upper world. And having taken food in the country of the dead, she could not leave it altogether and be with her mother and honoured by the immortal gods. But Demeter promised her, "Yet when the earth shall blossom with all the flowers of spring, you shall come up from the land of gloom and darkness to gladden the sight of gods and mortal men."
So Persephone was restored to her mother, and Demeter's sorrow was healed and her anger left her; soon the bare fields and plains waved her long ears of corn, and the rich land was busy with preparations for harvest. But for a third part of every year, Persephone descends to the grave country of Hades, returning in the spring to gladden gods and men.
[Chrissy's Note: The very first time I heard this story, it noted that the pommegranate was Persephone's favorite fruit, and that Hades had given her a huge array of fruit to choose from. But knowing that if she tasted any, she would be doomed to a life in the underworld, she refused everything he offered. Finally he offered the pommegranate, and she couldn't manage to refuse. She at 6 seeds, and thus was doomed to spend 6 months out of the 12 in the underworld. I've only seen that mentioned in the one version of it, but its always been my favorite version.. just thought I'd include it here.]
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