Persephone was a cherry and joyful goddess. Persephone loved to gather
flowers
while her mother checked on the crops. Her father, Zeus, had secretly promised
her to Hades, but Hades knew that Demeter would never let Persephone go.
One
day Demeter and Persephone were down on earth when Demeter left her daughter
with the nereids. Persephone had lots of fun but she wanted to show her
friends the
beautiful flowers she picked. The nereids couldn’t go with her or they
would dry
out and die. Persephone went by herself and saw a new flower that she had
never
seen before. She wanted to pick it, and she did with much difficulty. She
stood
back to catch her breath, but the hole where the flower was kept growing
and
getting bigger. Soon Persephone heard horses but was too terrified to run.
The
ground split open and a black cart drawn by black horses burst up from
the
Underworld. The goth looking charioteer grabbed the now petrified girl
and pulled
her into the cart, he disappeared down into the ground as fast as he came.
Demeter
returned to the Nysa valley from her work to find her daughter missing.
She
panicked and asked everyone she could find. She eventually asked Hecate
who took
her to Helios. Helios, the all seeing, told Demeter that her brother, Hades
taken her
daughter. Demeter caused such a famine that Zeus sent Hermes to bring Persephone
back. Hades let her go, but made her eat 4-6 pomegranate seeds. She returned
to
earth, but for eating the seeds she was eternally damned to return to the
Underworld for 4-6 months every year, this time became winter.
© 1998
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