Now Persephone had realized that one of the water nymphs had learned everything of her plight, and that she might be able to do her a service; so Persephone undid her white silken girdle and threw it down at the edges of the fountain, in the hope that one day it might reach her mother...

And Pluto plunged on through the darkness of the chasm until he reached his kingdom... and settled upon his throne... and set about appeasing Persephone, while she only grew more defiant and more averse... He carried her about the reaches of his vast kingdom and showed her the shores of the rivers of hell; he took her through the valleys of serpents and scorpions, and the lowest pit of the fire, and the garden of traitors and thieves, with its blazing trees... and with all this he only doubled her terror.

Demeter returned... and did not find Persephone; and in vain she tried to come upon some trace of her. The mother thundered and trembled and went about crying like a madwoman: "Persephone, where are you, Persephone?!"

She came to her brother's son Hephaestus, god of fire, and he lent her a great torch to light the world's darkness for her, that she might find her way to Persephone...

She scoured the forests, pierced the valleys, searched the shores, penetrated to the depths of the caves, and ranged over the chasms of the mountains... and did not come upon her. And the goddess of fertility and good things sat down, sorrowful and grieving...

And she vowed that no field should flourish, no plant should sprout, and no tree should bear fruit so long as her daughter was far from her! So the plains dried up, the stalks of wheat withered,

the orchards withered, the beasts of the earth grew restless, and hunger spread the banners of ruin through all the world.

* * *

In her wander-ing, Demeter came to the fountain at which Persephone had thrown down the silken girdle.

The water nymph saw her moaning and lamenting, and knew that she was the god-dess Demeter, and she spoke to her, saying: Be of good cheer and dry your eyes, for it is Pluto, lord of Hades, who carried off Persephone! And here is her girdle... Deliver the girl, for she will not taste food...

And Demeter took her daughter's girdle and

knew it; then she fell to pressing it to her eyes and her breast... pouring out her tears.

She went straight to Zeus and told him what the water nymph had said, and swore before him that unless he ordered his brother to return Persephone, she would surely destroy his worshippers by famine, and neither crop nor udder would thrive for them.

Zeus was moved by her words, and then said: "Very well, let Persephone return, then... but on condition that she has not tasted food in Hades; for if she has done so, she will no longer be fit for life in this first abode."

Now Persephone, on that very day on which Zeus promised her return to the world, had eaten six pomegranate seeds! When Zeus learned of it, he amended his judgment, and decreed that Persephone should stay in Hades, with his brother Pluto, six months of every year — that is, a month for every pomegranate seed!?

And she returns to her mother and stays with her another six.

And with her return, growth returns to the crops, flowers to the gardens, plenty and wealth to the people; and her return is the spring of life and the joy of the earth.

And life would have been all spring — but for that villain Pluto...