Persephone was the daughter of the goddess Ceres. One day Persephone was dancing with her friends in a sunny meadow, having a good time, picking flowers. Suddenly Persephone's uncle Pluto burst out of the ground and grabbed her and pulled her into his chariot! He took Persephone under the ground to his kingdom, the land of the dead,or the under world, and told her that he wanted her to be the Queen of the Underworld and marry him.
Persephone was very sad there under the ground. She wanted to go up into the sunshine again. But Pluto would not let her. Persephone was so sad that she would not eat nor drink. Meanwhile, back up in the land of the living, Persephone's mother Ceres was looking everywhere for her and could not find her. She cried and cried. Finally she went to her brother Jupiter, who was also Persephone's father, and asked him to help find Persephone. Jupiter, sitting way up there on top of Mount Olympus, was able to see where Persephone was. He told Pluto to give her back.
But Pluto said he would only give Persephone back if she had really not eaten or drunk anything from the land of the dead. Persephone had not eaten much, but it turned out she HAD eaten six pomegranate seeds. So they agreed that Persephone could spend six months a year above ground with her mother, but she would have to spend the other six months in the land of the dead with her uncle/husband. And that is how it has been since then, according to the story: that's why we have the seasons. When Persephone is above ground with her mother it is spring and summer because Ceres, her mother and also the god of weather, is happy. It is winter when Persephone has to leave Ceres and go live with Pluto.
No comments:
Post a Comment