The Sorrow of Demeter
Demeter was the Goddess of the earth and harvest. She had a daughter Persephone. Once when Persephone was gathering flowers with her girl – friends in the field the earth opened and a chariot appeared before her. A gloomy – looking man got out of the chariot, seized Persephone, put her into the chariot, and the earth closed over them. The friends of Persephone looked for her for a long time, and when evening came they told Demeter everything. Demeter became very sad. She went over land and sea looking for her daughter. She went to Helios who told her that Persephone had been taken away by Hades to the underworld. The sorrow of Demeter was great, she was weeping all the time, she never smiled. Everything on the earth began to fade. There was no fruit upon the trees, no flowers on the ground. Zeus understood that if he didn’t help to solve this difficult problem, everything would die.
So he sent Hermes down to Hades, the dark king to ask him to allow Persephone to see her mother. But before Hades let her go, he had given her a pomegranate to eat, because he knew that if she ate a pomegranate she would return. Then the great chariot was brought before the door of the palace. Hermes and Persephone stepped in it and drove away.
When Demeter saw her daughter, her joy was greater than her sorrow had been. She said: “I have not seen you for such a long time. I’ll never let yon go again to the dark kingdom of Hades”.
But Persephone said she would have to go back to Hades in six months because she had eaten the pomegranate. She said that Hades was very kind to her, though he never smiled and everything in his palace was dark. Hades promised to let her stay with Demeter for six months every year. Another six months she was to spend with him.
Demeter was happy for her daughter, and everything that grew on earth felt that her anger and sorrow had passed. The hills and gardens were green again and the corn in the fields became golden.
The six months passed and Hermes came with the chariot to take Persephone to the dark kingdom. She asked Demeter not to weep. “When six months pass Hades will let me come to you again”, she said. But Demeter was in sorrow again thinking of the happy days when Persephone was a child and gathered flowers in the fields and played with other girls. Now every year when Persephone goes to the kingdom of Hades everything on earth begins to fade and autumn comes. When Persephone comes back to her mother spring begins. Nature awakens from its long winter sleep.
