th its deathless horses that Persephone might go up
from his kingdom.

Beside the single tree in his domain Aidoneus stayed the chariot. A
single fruit grew on that tree, a bright pomegranate fruit. Persephone
stood up in the chariot and plucked the fruit from the tree. Then did
Aidoneus prevail upon her to divide the fruit, and, having divided it,
Persephone ate seven of the pomegranate seeds.

It was Hermes who took the whip and the reins of the chariot. He drove
on, and neither the sea nor the water-courses, nor the glens nor the
mountain peaks stayed the deathless horses of Aidoneus, and soon the
chariot was brought near to where Demeter awaited the coming of her
daughter.

And when, from a hilltop, Demeter saw the chariot approaching, she flew
like a wild bird to clasp her child. Persephone, when she saw her
mother's dear eyes, sprang out of the chariot and fell upon her neck
and embraced her. Long and long Demeter held her dear child in her
arms, gazing, gazing upon her. Suddenly her mind misgave her. With a
great fear at her heart she cried out: "Dearest, has any food passed
your lips in all the time you have been in the Underworld?"

She had not tasted food in all the time she was there, Persephone said.
And then, suddenly, she remembered the pomegranate that Aidoneus had
asked her to divide. When she told that she had eaten seven seeds from
it Demeter wept, and her tears fell upon Persephone's face.

"Ah, my dearest," she cried, "if you had not eaten the pomegranate
seeds you could have stayed with me, and always we should have been
together. But now that you have eaten food in it, the Underworld has a
claim upon you. You may not stay always with me here. Again you will
have to go back and dwell in the dark places under the earth and sit
upon Aidoneus's throne. But not always you will be there. When the
flowers bloom upon the earth you shall come up from the realm of
darkness, and in great joy we shall go through the world together,
Demeter and Persephone."

And so it has been since Persephone came back to her mother after
having eaten of the pomegranate seeds. For two seasons of the year she
stays with Demeter, and for one season she stays in the Underworld with
her dark lord. While she is with her mother there is springtime upon
the earth. Demeter blesses the furrows, her heart being glad because
her daughter is with her once more. The furrows become heavy with
grain, and soon the whole wide earth has