U6W1 Demeter and Persephone

Demeter and Persephone

CHAPTER 1 Lovely Persephone The goddess Persephone was a beautiful and beloved girl. Her happy laughter rang across Olympus, the home of the ancient gods of Greece. Persephone was the daughter of Demeter, the goddess of the harvest. Demeter loved her daughter and kept her nearby at all times. Mother and daughter were never apart.

When Demeter sat on her throne, her daughter sat with her. When she went down to Earth to tend her fields, Persephone went too. She danced across the meadows. " I love making flowers grow, ” Persephone sang, and they sprang up wherever she walked. Together, mother and daughter kept the earth green and growing. Farmers planted and reaped healthy crops. Tall trees grew, bright flowers bloomed, and juicy fruit ripened.

But alas, another loved Persephone. It was the god of the dead, Hades. “ I want this beautiful girl to be my queen, " he said. And so one day, Hades drove his chariot up through the earth. The ground trembled and split as the god appeared. Hades grabbed Persephone, who had wandered away from her mother, and pulled her into the chariot.

“ No! ” the frightened girl cried out, but it was too late. Hades turned his fierce horses, the ground closed up again, and Persephone was gone. All that remained in the meadow was a little boy crying for his lost pigs. They had tumbled into the open earth when Hades arrived, and now they were gone as well.