The myth of Demeter and Persephone together, tending the crops and grain. One day Persephone, a carefree, young maiden was out picking wildflowers with her friends when suddenly, the ground opened up and Hades shot forth riding his chariot. He snatched poor Persephone up before she could utter a cry and carried her off to the underworld. While her mother wandered the earth looking for her Poseidon saw her and lusted after her and so to escape his advances Demeter turned herself into a horse. This, however, did not stop the great king Poseidon, for he also turned into a horse and took pleasure in her. To him she bore one son, who was also a horse.

During Demeter’s wanderings she allowed nothing to grow upon the earth and it was winter for an entire year. During this time she came upon a queen who allowed her to nurse her son, Demophoon. Demeter loved the child so much that she would hold him in the fire every night to make him immortal; until one night his mother saw him there, in the coals, and cried out in fear for him. Demeter grew angry at the women’s lack of trust in her and she threw the babe on the floor and left the house.

Finally, after Zeus had sent every God and Goddess to try to persuade Demeter to rejoin the Gods on Mount Olympus and all had failed, he ordered that Persephone be allowed to return to her mother. Before the two were reunited, however, Persephone ate a few of the seeds of a pomegranate and since it was the fruit of the underworld she was forced to return with Hades to help him rule his kingdom for three or four months out of each year. At this time Demeter mourns the loss of her daughter and it is winter until mother and daughter are reunited.