pread their
branches. Just then the daughters of Keleos, the king of Eleusis, came
to the fountain with pitchers on their heads to draw water; and when
they saw Demeter, they knew from her face that she must have some
great grief; and they spoke kindly to her, and asked if they could do
anything to help her. Then she told them how she had lost and was
searching for her child; and they said, "Come home and live with us;
and our father and mother will give you everything that you can want,
and do all that they can to soothe your sorrow." So Demeter went down
to the house of Keleos, and she stayed there for a whole year. And all
this time, although the daughters of Keleos were very gentle and kind
to her, she went on mourning and weeping for Persephone. She never
laughed or smiled, and scarcely ever did she speak to any one, because
of her great grief. And even the earth, and the things which grow on
the earth, mourned for the sorrow which had come upon Demeter. There
was no fruit upon the trees, no corn came up in the fields, and no
flowers blossomed in the gardens. And Zeus looked down from his high
Thessalian hill, and saw that everything must die unless he could
soothe the grief and anger of Demeter. So he sent Hermes down to
Hades, the dark and stern king, to bid him send Persephone to see her
mother, Demeter. But before Hades let her go he gave her a
pomegranate to eat, because he did not wish her to stay away from him
always, and he knew that she must come back if she tasted but one of
his pomegranate seeds. Then the great chariot was brought before the
door of the palace, and Hermes touched with his whip the coal-black
horses, and away they went as swiftly as the wind, until they came
close to Eleusis. Then Hermes left Persephone, and the coal-black
horses drew the chariot away again to the dark home of King Hades.

The sun was sinking down in the sky when Hermes left Persephone, and
as she came near to the fountain she saw some one sitting near it in a
long black robe, and she knew that it must be her mother who still
wept and mourned for her child. And as Demeter heard the rustling of
her dress, she lifted up her face, and Persephone stood before her.

Then the joy of Demeter was greater, as she clasped her daughter to
her breast, than her grief and her sorrow had been. Again and again
she held Persephone in her arms, and asked her about all that had
happened to her. And she said, "Now that you are come back to