 |
|
|
| Hades, the lord of the dead, was worried that a fire- breathing monster might split Mount Aetna. Even just a small crack would allow light into the gloomy underworld. Hades didn't ever like to venture to the upper world, but sometimes he had to. After looking in vain for the monster, he turned his horses and prepared to go back to the underworld, but Aphrodite, the goddess of love, spotted Hades. She turned to her son Eros and said, "Quickly, fire one of your arrows into his heart!" Eros took an arrow from his pouch and fired it from his bow. The arrow hit its target. Hades fell in love with Persephone, the maiden of spring. Persephone's mother, Demeter (the goddess of grain), would not agree to let her child rule the underworld. If Demeter stopped blessing the grain, all plants would wilt and die. |
|
| One day, as Persephone was picking flowers, she saw
a strange looking flower and chose it. Hades had planted it there
as a trap. The ground opened up and he kidnapped Persephone.
The horse-drawn chariot didn't stop until they had passed through the gates
of the kingdom of the dead. Persephone cried for help.
When Demeter heard her daughter's cry, she rushed to help but Presephone
wasn't there. After nine days and nine nights, Demeter stopped searching
for Presephone. She decided to beg the sun god for help. "Where is
Presephone?", she asked him.
He replied, "In the underworld, waiting to be Hades' bride." Demeter didn't believe him at first. She left her home on Mount Olympus to live in loneliness. No one recognized her. One day, she stopped in a town named Eleusis. While she was resting, she saw four ladies approach a nearby well. They turned and asked Demeter who she was, what she was doing there, and if they could help her. She told them she had escaped from a band of pirates and that she was wandering the earth. The four girls took Demeter to their mother and told her their story. The mother let Demeter stay at their house. There was also a very young baby there. One night, Demeter was looking after the baby by herself. She placed the baby by the fire. Suddenly, the mother walked in. |
 |
| "What are you doing?" the mother cried. The
girls ran in. Demeter started to glow. "What are you?" asked
the mother.
"I am the goddess of grain, Demeter. I am trying to give your little son immortality," Demeter said. "Oh, I am sorry. I didn't know," said the mother. "Please stay with us longer." "It's to late; you have angered me," Demeter said as
she was leaving. Then Demeter did a foolish thing, which in this
case turned out fairly well. She threatened Zeus, the god of all
gods. She said that if he didn't order Hades to return Persephone,
she would never bless the earth again. Zeus told Hades to let Persephone
go and even Hades had to obey Zeus.
Hades and Demeter made a deal. Half of the year, Persephone would be with Hades, and the other half she would be with Demeter. During the half of the year that Persephone was away, she ordered a servant to leave grain around the earth. Men were taught to grow food from this grain. When Persphone was in the underworld with Hades, fall and winter came to Earth. During the spring and summer seasons, she lived above with her mother. This is how the four seasons came to be. |
 |
| Aesop | Andromeda | Arachne | Atlantis | Cupid | Cyclops | Echo | Hercules | Hermes | Hydra | Jason | Medusa | Midas | Minotaur | Oedipus | Orpheus | Persephone | Prometheus | Pygmalion | Romulus | Trojan Horse | |