The Lines: Goddess of Fertility

The great goddess Demeter had a young, beautiful daughter, Persephone. Persephone did not think that she would not soon see the clear light of the sun again, nor would she soon admire the flowers and breathe in their sweet fragrance. Zeus gave her in marriage to his gloomy brother Hades, ruler of the kingdom of the dead, and with him Persephone was to live in the darkness of the underworld, deprived of light and the hot southern sun. Hades saw Persephone frolicking in the valley of Nyssa and resolved to kidnap her immediately. He begged the earth goddess Gaia to grow a flower of unusual beauty. Persephone reached out her hand and grabbed it by the stem, and now the flower was plucked. Suddenly the earth opened and Hades, the lord of the realm of the dead in his golden chariot, appeared from the earth on black horses. He grabbed the young Persephone, and all she could do was cry out.