Tales of Persephone

Persephone was the daughter of Demeter, goddess of agriculture. Because she was such a lighthearted young girl, many referred to her as the Maiden of Spring. One sunny morning Persephone and some friends were busy collecting flowers in a meadow near the city of Henna. As she filled her basket, the petals of a beautiful narcissus caught her eye from the center of a nearby thicket. In order to get a closer look Persephone quietly wandered away from the group, but just as she reached out to pluck the bloom from it's stem, she felt the ground shake beneath her. With a thunderous roar the god Hades burst forth from a chasm in the earth and snatched the innocent maiden away in his brazen chariot.

The footsteps of his mighty steeds caused the land to tremble and the hills echoed with the sounds of Persephone's frightened cries for help. Hearing the commotion, the other maidens came running to rescue their beautiful young companion, but she was nowhere to be found.

Persephone had completely vanished, leaving behind only the flowers that she had been carrying. Persephone's pitiful cries soon reached Mount Olympus and the ears of Demeter, who was enjoying a peaceful midday slumber. She frantically took to the air, speeding across both land and sea in a desperate quest to find her daughter. Persephone's companions were of little help, for none witnessed their friend's abduction and could offer no explanation other than Persephone wandered away and suddenly disappeared.

According to some accounts, Demeter changed the maidens into sirens in order to punish them for their unwillingness to supply more information. Demeter was so overcome with grief that she declined all food and drink and even refused to bathe. Instead the goddess chose to wander the earth in a forlorn attempt to locate her missing daughter. On the tenth day of her travels Demeter paid a visit to Hecate, goddess of witches and the crossroads. The crone stated that Persephone had indeed been carried off, but the culprit's face had remained hidden. Together, the two goddess traveled to the palace of the sun, in hopes that maybe Helios had witnessed something during his daily travels through the sky.

This proved to be a good idea, for the all-seeing sun god positively identified the offender as none other than Death himself. Helios tried to rectify the situation by reminding Demeter that Hades, being the brother of Zeus was more than a suitable husband for her daughter, but the angry goddess would hear nothing of it.

Refusing to return to Mount Olympus, Demeter disguised herself as an old woman and sadly wandered from town to town. Upon reaching Eleusis, she sat down to rest herself beside the edge of a well. There she was met by four sisters who needed to draw water for the evening meal. The girls took pity upon the old woman, for they did not recognize her as a goddess. When questioned about her homeland, Demeter replied that she had been forced to flee from Crete to avoid being sold into salvery. Wanting to help, the girls (who were actually princesses) invited the old woman to follow them home for a hot meal and a comfortable place to sleep.

The goddess graciously accepted the invitation and was taken to the palace of King Celeus and his wife Metaneira. Queen Metaneira took an instant liking to the gloomy old woman and soon made her nurse to Prince Demophon.

Still very much grieving the loss of her daughter, Demeter happily turned all her attention to the baby. Determined to make him immortal, every day the goddess annointed him with ambrosia and every night she laid him upon the embers of the hearth.

One night Metaneira decided to spy on the old nurse, and as she peeked through the door was horrified to see Demeter laying the baby upon the fire. Screaming with terror, Metaneira and her daughters burst though the chamber door. In anger, Demeter cast the baby to the floor and with the wave of her hand returned to her true form as a goddess.

The women stared in disbelief as she stood before them in all her divine radiance. She procalimed that in order to recapture her good graces, the townspeople must build a great temple and dedicate it in her honor. There she was to be revered and worshiped above all others throughout the land of Eleusis. The Prince Demophon was never to become immortal, but because he was annointed by the goddess, the boy was blessed with good fortune throughout his life.

She then left the city and did not return until her temple was completed. There inside of her shrine, the goddess sat alone, wasting away with grief over the loss of her daughter. And so it was that just as Demeter's sorrow intensified, so did the suffering upon the earth.

The angry goddess brought about a famine that lasted for a year, causing many men and animals to lose their lives to starvation. Just when it seemed that all of mankind would surely perish, Zeus stepped in and sent Hermes to Eleusis to seek out the heartbroken goddess.

Finding Demeter isolated in the temple, Hermes promised Persephone would be returned to her providing that if during her stay in the underworld she had not tasted the food of the dead. After leaving Eleusis, the winged messenger descended into Hades and proclaimed Zeus' demand that Persephone at once be returned to her mother.

Because the unhappy bride had refused to eat even a crust of bread, Hades had no choice but to release the maiden into the hands of Hermes. As they were preparing to depart, one of the gardners known as Ascalaphus let out a loud bellow and said "I have witnessed Queen Persephone eating seven seeds from a pomegranate!" Smiling at this news, Hades told Ascalaphus to mount the back of Hermes' chariot and ride with them to Eleusis. Persephone ran into the open arms of her mother and the two tearfully embraced. But this moment of joy was short, for just then Ascalaphus proudly made his announcement. As Demeter listened to the gardener tell his tale of the pomegranate seeds, she knew this meant Persephone must be returned to Hades. After hearing the news, the devastated goddess once again refused to return to Olympus. She vowed the earth would remain barren, the ground hard and the crops cursed. Zeus knew that he must take action immediately before all living things were destroyed.

In hopes of solving the crisis, Zeus asked his mother Rhea to intervene and speak to Demeter. Rhea agreed, and after much effort and persuasion on her part, a compromise was finally reached between the two. It was decided that Persephone would spend three months of the year in the underworld, residing with her husband Hades, and would then be returned to her mother for the remaining nine months. While her daughter was away, Demeter would curse the crops and the earth would be barren and cold. But upon the maiden's return, Demeter would once again bestow her blessings upon the world and the earth would in turn become fertile and brimming with new life.

This is why the crops do not bear fruit during the winter months, but sprout anew in the spring. Before leaving Eleusis, Demeter went to Triptolemus, the oldest son of King Celeus, and gave to him her chariot and the dragons by which it was drawn.

He flew through the air sowing corn and teaching the people how to cultivate the earth. She also taught him the rites of her worship, thus establishing the Festival of Thesmophoria.

For his tale telling, Ascalaphus was punished by being pushed into a hole and covered by an enormous rock. He was later set free by Heracles, but the unforgiving Demeter immediately turned him into an owl. Though her time spent in the realm of the dead was brief, it was enough to change Persephone's view of the world forever.

She no longer could look upon a flower and see the beautiful bloom without seeing a withered stem just beyond it. For her, there were no more endless summer days filled with lighthearted laughter. She was forever robbed of the carefree innocence that so made her the Maiden of Spring.

Medea's Lair Of Greek Mythology © 1999-2012.