This is the story of how the seasons came to be.
Demeter,
The goddess of harvest,
Spent her days attending to agriculture and fertility,
Roaming the earth and bringing new life to fields,
Forests and meadows,
With her beloved daughter Persephone by her side.
Because of them,
All year round plants,
Flowers and life were in bloom.
After yet another day of hard work,
Demeter and Persephone sat at the highest point in all of the land,
Overlooking pastures and fields of green with huge grins of satisfaction.
Mum,
Persephone said,
I think I'm old enough now to go at this alone,
Don't you think?
Demeter hesitated.
Listen,
Persephone continued before her mum could say anything.
If I took on this role on my own,
We could get our work done in half the time,
Which means we'd have more time to spend together,
Not working.
I'm not sure,
Persephone.
I'll think about it in a few months' time.
Please,
Mum,
Persephone begged,
Craving independence.
You've got to trust me.
It's not you I don't trust,
Dear girl,
It's the rest of them.
Those gods are always up to mischief.
After a few days of consistent begging,
Whining and a couple of tantrums,
Demeter gave in.
Fine,
But be back for tea before it's dark.
Persephone shrieked with joy and ran out the front door to begin her entirely independent day's work.
Around lunchtime,
She was gathering flowers to take home to her mum,
Humming along in dulcet tones with the birds.
The sweet sounds of the melody travelled all the way down to the core of the earth,
Attracting the attention of Hades,
God of the underworld.
Hades followed the trail of sound until he was standing at the edge of the forest,
Watching Persephone.
For him,
It was love at first sight.
He'd never seen anything so beautiful in all his hundreds of years.
Each day,
Hades would emerge from the underworld and silently watch Persephone work.
And each day,
He fell more and more in love with her.
But she would never fall in love with a god like me,
Hades thought.
I live in the underworld,
And she lives up here,
Where there is life and hope.
Perhaps if I just took her,
Once she's with me she'd fall in love with me.
It's a bit of a risk,
But one I'm willing to take.
And so,
Without seeking counsel,
Hades constructed and executed his very own plan of taking Persephone and residing with her in the underworld for the rest of time.
When Persephone didn't arrive home before dark,
Demeter was inconsolable.
She instantly knew something was wrong.
She spent weeks and months searching for her daughter to no avail,
And in her time spent searching,
The earth began to wither and die.
Nothing could comfort her,
And she refused to let anything grow until Persephone was safely returned.
Demeter arranged a meeting with Zeus,
King of the gods,
To see if he'd heard of Persephone's whereabouts.
Of course I know where she is,
Zeus announced,
Very matter of fact.
She's in the underworld with our brother,
Hades.
The underworld?
Said Demeter.
But she has no place there,
Zeus.
She's meant to be up here,
With me.
The world is withering away,
There are no food or crops because I cannot bring myself to cultivate life when my beloved daughter has been taken from me.
Hmm,
I agree.
This does cause a slight concern,
Said Zeus.
Tell you what,
I'll arrange a meeting with Hades and yourself,
Same time tomorrow.
The very next day,
Demeter returned to Zeus,
And just like he promised,
Hades and Persephone were there.
Demeter ran to her daughter and wrapped her arms around her.
They held each other,
They laughed,
They cried.
Demeter told her how much she'd missed her,
And Persephone told her she'd missed her too.
You can come home with me now,
Persephone.
But mum,
Persephone replied.
I love him.
Right,
Said Zeus.
Well,
That's that.
Persephone can spend half the year in the underworld with Hades,
And half the year back here on earth with Demeter.
No chance,
Thought Demeter.
But then she saw the way Persephone gazed at Hades,
And she could see for herself that love really had wrapped itself around them both.
And how could she stand in the way of that?
Love knows no bounds,
And it certainly doesn't care for convenience.
As painful as it was for her,
She knew she must let her daughter go.
And here,
The seasons were born.
For half of the year,
When Persephone was with Demeter,
The earth bloomed with new life and growth and the weather was warm and pleasant.
But when Persephone returned to the underworld for the second half of the year,
Demeter's grief took over once again and the earth became cold and harsh.
In time,
Demeter came to accept Zeus's arrangement.
She found solace in the fact that her precious daughter had brought light and love to the darkness of the underworld,
And in turn her own grief had helped create a necessary,
Beautiful,
Cyclical balance to the rest of the world.
