Demeter's Joy

Persephone did not return, and the angry goddess grew more angry. She determined to punish the gods, even though it brought suffering to mankind. Indeed there was no other way to punish them. So she forbade the earth to bring forth any more fruit, and there was a great famine. In vain did the oxen pull the plough through the field. In vain did the farmer sow the grain. The land was covered with stubble. No flower sprang up on the parched earth; the starving people had no sacrifice to offer to the gods, and their altars were left without the incense arising from sacred offerings.

Now the gods loved the praises of men, and the incense from their altars was most precious to them. They complained to Zeus because they were deprived of their incense, and Zeus saw the cause of it. He sent the rainbow-winged Iris to call Demeter back to Mount Olympos.

The beautiful messenger flew like a sunbeam through the space between heaven and earth, and soon reached Eleusis. She found Demeter in her temple and said to her, "Dear Mother, I bring a message to thee from the great god Zeus. He commands thee to return to the abode of the immortal gods, and his command no one dares to disobey."

But Demeter received the command with scorn, so Zeus sent all the gods, one after another, to entreat her to return, and he sent promises of beautiful gifts and courtly honors, but Demeter remained unmoved. "The earth shall yield no fruits," she said, "nor will I return to the company of the gods until I behold with mine own eyes my beautiful daughter."

Then Zeus sent Hermes to Hades to persuade him with sweet words to give up his wife and send her back to her mother since Demeter's anger could not be appeased without her. Hermes went down to the under-world to the King of the Dead, and said to him: "Immortal Hades, father Zeus has charged me to take thy wife from this dark realm back to the light of day that her mother may see her, for the anger of the goddess cannot be appeased. In her wrath she is starving men and depriving the gods of the honors that mortals bestow on them. She hath left the home of the gods and will not abide with them. Neither will she speak to them, but lives alone in her temple at Eleusis."

The grim king smiled and said to his wife, "Persephone, my queen, go to thy blue-robed mother and appease her wrath. The winter is over and thou must see the light of the sun. But first thou shalt eat with me of the pomegranate, the apple of love, for thou dost love me and this shall keep thee in remembrance of me."

Then Persephone took from the king the pomegranate and ate it, for the grim Hades had made her truly a queen and had done honors to her. But she was glad to return to her mother and the blessed light of the day. She mounted the chariot. Hermes took the reins and the whip, and the horses flew over the stony road that led from Hades. On and on they went until they reached the Eleusinian plains and the temple of Demeter.

There they emerged from the cave close to the temple, and a fig-tree burst into budding as they came. Demeter stood with outstretched arms at the mouth of the cave to receive her daughter. Hermes helped her from the chariot and Persephone sprang into her mother's arms as the flowers of May spring forth on the bosom of earth with the early showers.

No one can describe Demeter's joy as she beheld once more her beloved child, and pressed her to her heart, covering her with kisses. The whole earth smiled and burst into verdant growth. The fields were covered with grain. The meadows bloomed with gay flowers. The birds sang and the people rejoiced.

[Illustration: THE RETURN OF PERSEPHONE.
(Lord Leighton.)]

Demeter drew her daughter into the holiest sanctuary of her great temple and they talked over all that had happened during Persephone's long absence. She told her mother how Hades had stolen her away from the meadows while she gathered flowers, and how he had treated her while she stayed with him in the lower world. She had only words of love and honor for the dread King of the Dead.

A whole day mother and daughter passed in an affectionate embrace and in exchanging words of love, each pitying the other on account of the long separation. Then Zeus sent Rhea to bring Demeter and Persephone to Mount Olympos. And he told them that Persephone might remain with her mother until the winter months came back again.

To this Demeter seriously objected, for she dreaded the separation and the loneliness. But Zeus replied: "If thy daughter hath eaten of the pomegranate she is truly wedded to Hades the King of the Dead, and must go back to him to stay during the winter. For the pomegranate is the apple of love, and having shared it with him, he hath part in her affection and can claim her as his wife. But if she hath not eaten of the fruit she shall remain with thee and go no more to the gloomy realms below."

Demeter was satisfied with these terms and promised that Persephone should return to her honored husband during the winter months, for Persephone had told her that she had eaten with him of the pomegranate and that she loved him in spite of his gloomy surroundings. Then Demeter forgave Zeus for his part in allowing the abduction of Persephone, and the mother and daughter descended once more to Eleusis to bestow blessings upon the inhabitants, and from that time on the earth was clad in flowers and foliage as long as Persephone stayed with her mother. But it was brown and barren when she returned to the regions of the Dead. And the good Hades warmed the earth from below by virtue of his divine power, helping it to produce more abundantly the precious grains and the fragrant flowers.