Demeter and Persephone

          Demeter was the sister of Zeus and one of the six kids of Cronus and Rhea.  She had a daughter named Persephone, and a son named Horus.  Zeus was her father.

One day Hades saw Persephone and liked her.  He kidnapped her to his underground kingdom of the dead to marry her.  Demeter searched for her everywhere for her, not caring for the earth or its crops.  Eventually the sun god Helios had seen everything that had happened and told Demeter.  Demeter promised that she would not care for the earth unless her daughter was found. 

           She went to Zeus and demanded that Persephone be found.  Zeus agreed as long as she had not eaten any thing in the underworld.  But Persephone had eaten some of a pomegranate.  Therefore, Zeus could not free her.  Demeter was so sad that she didn’t care about the earth anymore.

            Zeus saw that the earth was cold and dark. Eventually, between Hades, Demeter and Zeus, a compromise was made. Persephone would get let out of the underworld in the spring. Demeter was so happy to have her daughter back that the flowers would start blooming and the earth would be cared for. But later in the year, at harvest time, Persephone would have to return to the underworld. That is why the world is cold and dark in the winter - because Persephone is in the underworld. This is how the seasons came to be.