...And she returns, and with her, growth returns to the crops, flowers to the gardens, bounty and wealth to mankind... and her return is the spring of life and the joy of the earth.

...Good Demeter, goddess of good things, merciful giver of blessings, who colors the blossom and ripens the fruit, who grants the fields their green... Demeter dwelt in a lofty palace overlooking the plains of the island of Sicily that are loveliest in beauty, sweetest, and most balmy of air. When morning breathed, she would put on her fresh crown, which she had plaited of ears of wheat, grasp in her right hand her scepter studded with chrysolite, and then mount her splendid chariot and set off in it to roam the ends of the earth, passing by every farm and stopping at every vine, giving the wheat of her breath so that it grew by her blessings, and giving the ripening things of her breaths so that they grew sweet... Then she would return at nightfall, and her little daughter Persephone would run to her, joyous and beaming, and wind her two beauti-ful arms around her mother's legs.

And the girl Persephone would pass the length of the day, until her mother's return, in a flock of her companions, the fair daughters of the forest: they would go on picking flowers and gathering sweet herbs; then one of childhood's battles would break out among them, and they would pelt one another with roses, tender lilies, and clusters of white

iris. The brooks rippled beneath them, and the branches cooed above them...

...Now Pluto, god of the dead and lord of the last abode, had wearied of this stillness brooding over the kingdom of the graves beneath the earth (Hades), and had grown sick of these phantoms drifting about him here and there in the surrounding darkness, and of the souls of the dead, moaning and lamenting in every corner of his desolate, mournful realm... So he harnessed his huge chariot and set its steeds aflame with his cruel whips, and off it flew, carrying him to... the first abode... where life is... Pluto, breathing this sweet breeze that floods the kingdom of his brother Zeus, quenching his thirsty soul with the sight of the water nymphs and the daughters of the forest... And as he devoured the earth with his chariot, behold, he heard ringing laughter, musical voices, and talk like dinars of gold... as though what he heard were warbling and song.

He parted the branches of the wood and saw the white doves playing on the grass, as if there were sweet smiles about their feet...

And Pluto went mad... and swore that he would carry off this sweet girl from among them!!

"How long shall I remain in this pitch darkness, "alone?! And how long must I suffer my far "exile, without friend or companion?! "And what is my vast kingdom worth, so long as "I have no

comrade to cheer me, no com-panion, save my demon minions "and my dogs, and Charon, the gloomy misshapen one, "keeper of the gate of hell. "I have grown weary... and I must have this fair young maiden! "She has a tender speech... and she "bends like a bough... alas... for her... ".... ".... ".... "And her feet!! "O the rounded heels... and the melody that sings in them!! "And the soft arms "and the ivory back!! "And the golden hair — "alas...

And this smile that hovers about the mouth — it is lovelier than apple blossom in the first days of May... and than the almond blossoms in April.

"...O my mouth, how you thirst for a kiss to press upon those two daisy-white lips. I shall carry her off! I shall seat her beside me on the throne of Hades! She shall become queen of the abode of the dead! She shall scatter the darkness of my kingdom with her beautiful, radiant face... and the souls of the dead shall bow down at her feet!!..."

* * *

And Pluto lashed his steeds to fire... and they sped toward the girls; and how terrified they were when they glimpsed his dust-gray face, with the dark shadows flickering over his gigantic frame.

Behind him followed his dog Cerberus of the three heads, cast-ing terror all about... The fair ones fled in panic... all but Persephone: Pluto seized her by the arm and dragged her into the chariot... and off he went, racing the winds... The water of a fountain barred his way... and swiftly the water surged up and began to boil, so that the giant grew fearful and afraid...: but he took up his terrible scepter and struck the earth with it, and it shuddered and quaked and split open into

a great chasm of unfath-omable depth...