Long ago,
Before the passing seasons ever showed their faces on the earth,
There was one long season of summer.
The dark hours of night passed quickly,
While the daylight hours lingered.
Bees made perpetual rounds to trees forever laden with blossoms and fruit.
Corrie,
The lovely maiden,
Retained the freshness of a new blossom,
While her mother Demeter,
The goddess of golden grains,
Remained forever in full bloom.
They spent endless days roaming the hills and groves of old Greece,
Bestowing their blessing upon fields of corn,
Leaving behind them a wake of laughter and song.
One day,
They parted briefly while Demeter went to the seashore to see her lover.
Corrie stayed behind,
Picking flowers in a green valley.
She had gathered a handful of fragrant narcissus when she noticed the ground trembling beneath her feet.
Suddenly the earth split open before her,
And up from the chasm there roared the sound of thundering hooves.
A blinding whirl of dust engulfed her,
Powerful arms seized her,
And no amount of struggle could prevent her from being taken down into the gaping darkness of the world below.
Her abductor was none other than Hades,
King of the underworld.
After having his way with her,
He entreated her to stay with him and be queen of the underworld.
Corrie wept floods of tears and cried out for her mother.
For many days,
Hades persisted with soft entreaties.
He spoke gently to her and brought her enticing plates of food,
But she denied him and refused to eat a single bite of food from the underworld.
Demeter searched without rest,
Without food or drink,
Enlisting the help of everyone she met,
The voices of searchers rang from hill to hill,
Corrie,
Corrie,
But no trace of her was found.
On the ninth day of the search,
Old Hekate,
Guardian of the crossroads,
Came forth and told Demeter she had heard a scream for help and the voice of a distressed girl crying out,
But when Hekate ran to the rescue,
There was no one in sight.
On the tenth day of the search,
Demeter met a herdsman who'd witnessed a frightful scene the very day Corrie had vanished.
The earth began to quake,
Startling the herdsman and his companion.
A great chasm opened and the two herdsmen could but watch as their whole herd of pigs tumbled into darkness.
Suddenly out of nowhere,
A charging black chariot drawn by black horses surged forth and nearly trampled them.
Through the clouds of dust and the deafening clamor,
They dimly perceived the driver clasping to his side a shrieking girl.
The chariot plunged into the chasm and the earth closed up behind them.
Once the dust had settled,
Only the faint smell of narcissus remained.
Upon hearing this,
Demeter's blood boiled,
Wretched to think of some unknown scoundrel abducting Corrie,
But the thought of Hades,
Demeter's own brother,
Violating her.
This took the goddess to the brink of madness.
To verify the account,
Demeter and Hekate went to the son Helios who witnesses all.
Their suspicions were confirmed.
Further,
They learned that Zeus,
Chief of the gods,
Brother of Demeter and Hades,
Had given Hades his covert blessing.
Utterly betrayed,
Convulsed by inconsolable grief,
Seized by unquenchable hate toward her brothers,
Demeter wandered the earth,
Revoking her blessings of bounty and fruition from all living things.
Nuts and trees withered.
Livestock went barren.
The hulls of dead bees and butterflies littered the earth.
The human race languished and people began to starve.
High on Mount Olympus,
Zeus himself grew careworn,
For life on earth depended upon Demeter's bounty.
In her hands rested the fate of all living things.
He sent gifts and conciliatory messages,
But Demeter swore the land would remain barren until Cori returned.
Zeus knew he had to act fast.
He sent word to Demeter that Cori could only return if she had not eaten the food of the underworld.
He ordered Hades to bring Cori to meet with her mother,
Eleusis.
Having no choice but to accept,
Hades told Cori to prepare for the journey.
Cori was ecstatic at the hope of returning to her mother.
Hades' gardener,
However,
Complicated things by announcing he had seen Cori pick a pomegranate from Hades' orchard.
He reported having seen her taste a few morsels of the fruit.
He was taken to Eleusis to bear witness.
At Eleusis,
The mother-daughter reunion produced a moment's elation,
But joys were dashed when the gardener spoke.
Stubborn to the last,
Demeter refused to restore earth's bounty.
Rhea,
Mother of the gods,
Came forth to craft a compromise.
She suggested that since Cori had eaten only a few bites of the underworld fruit,
It would be unfair to doom her to the underworld forever.
Rhea proposed that Cori spend part of the year ruling alongside Hades as underworld queen.
During these months the land would be barren,
And her title would be Persephone,
Queen of the Dead.
The rest of the year she would return to her mother,
And together they would restore earth's bounty and preside over the growing season.
All parties agreed,
And old Hecate saw to it that the agreement was kept.
Demeter restored prosperity to the land and rewarded those who had helped her.
As keeper of the crossroads,
Hecate vowed to watch over Cori during the seasonal shifts.
In autumn,
When Cori the maiden becomes Persephone,
Queen of the Dead,
And in spring when she rises up from darkness to bless the fields anew.
Ever since that day,
All living things have endured the round of changing seasons on this earth.
