rl?" said the strange man, and
he tried to soften his rough voice. "I promise not to do you any harm.
I see you have been gathering flowers? Wait till we come to my palace
and I will give you a garden full of prettier flowers than these, all
made of diamonds and pearls and rubies. Can you guess who I am? They
call me Pluto, and I am the King of the mines where all the diamonds
and rubies and all the gold and silver are found: they all belong to
me. Do you see this lovely crown on my head? I will let you have it
to play with. Oh, I think we are going to be very good friends when we
get out of this troublesome sunshine."

"Let me go home," sobbed Proserpina, "let me go home."

"My home is better than your mother's," said King Pluto. "It is a
palace made of gold, with crystal windows and with diamond lamps
instead of sunshine; and there is a splendid throne; if you like
you may sit on it and be my little Queen, and I will sit on the
footstool."

"I do not care for golden palaces and thrones," sobbed Proserpina. "O
mother, mother! Take me back to my mother."

But King Pluto only shouted to his horses to go faster.

"You are very foolish, Proserpina," he said, rather crossly. "I am
doing all I can to make you happy, and I want very much to have a
merry little girl to run upstairs and downstairs in my palace and make
it brighter with her laughter. This is all I ask you to do for King
Pluto."

"Never" answered Proserpina, looking very miserable. "I shall never
laugh again, till you take me back to my mother's cottage."

And the horses galloped on, and the wind whistled past the chariot,
and Proserpina cried and cried till her poor little voice was almost
cried away, and nothing was left but a whisper.

The road now began to get very dull and gloomy. On each side were
black rocks and very thick trees and bushes that looked as if they
never got any sunshine. It got darker and darker, as if night was
coming, and still the black horses rushed on leaving the sunny home of
Mother Ceres far behind.

But the darker it grew, the happier King Pluto seemed to be.
Proserpina began to peep at him, she thought he might not be such a
wicked man after all.

"Is it much further," she asked, "and will you carry me back when I
have seen your palace?"

"We will talk of that by and by," answered Pluto. "Do you see these
big gates? When we pass these we are at home; and look! there is my
faithful dog at the door! Cerberus; Cerberus,