Ceres had a daughter, Proserpine. She loved Proserpine more than anything around the world. One day Ceres and Proserpine were wa

"I know that, Ceres. But if Proserpine has eaten any food, she cannot come back. No one who eats below the earth can ever return. I will send Mercury to the underworld. He will find out if Proserpine has eaten anything."

The man stared at the child. Without a word, he reached down and grabbed her. The flowers fell from her hands. "Mother! Mother!" she cried. "Help, Mother! Help!" Ceres heard the cries. She ran down the hill. She was to o late. She saw only the flowers Proserpine had dropped.

Proserpine looked at the fruit. She had never seen a pomegranate before. It looked good. She was hungry. "I'll try one bite," she said. But the pomegranate was full of seeds. Proserpine did not like it. "I don't want any more," she said. "I swallowed some of the seeds."

"I'll pick some flowers for you while you rest," said Proserpine. She picked some roses near by. Then she saw a daisy field at the foot of the hill. She ran down the hill to pick them. She sang as she went. Suddenly a wagon pulled by four black horses came down the road. A big man stood in the wagon. Proserpine was too frightened to move.

"Well, then, bring out the finest clothes," he said. "You like pretty clothes, don't you, Proserpine?" Nothing made her happy. Back on the earth, Ceres was looking for her little girl. Day after day she looked. She forgot her work as goddess of the harvest. The corn did not ripen. The flowers did not bloom. At last Jupiter sent for Ceres.

All summer she plays in the fields with her mother. In the autumn she goes back to the underworld. Then Ceres is sad and nothing grows.

"Someone has run off with my child!" she cried. Her voice shook. By this time Proserpine and the strange man were far away. Proserpine looked at the man. What she saw frightened her more. He was very big with black hair and dark eyes. "I want to go home." Her voice shook as she spoke.

"I don't want to be a queen," cried Prosperine. "It's too dark down here. Where is the sunshine?" Pluto did not answer. He placed Proserpine on the throne next to his. "Bring the little queen the finest food in the palace," he ordered. Proserpine ate nothing.

"I want Proserpine forever," answered Pluto. "But I know she is not happy in the underworld. I will let her spend half the year on earth with her mother. Then she will not be so unhappy with me." So every year Proserpine returns to the earth with the spring. The flowers and trees grow then.

"Ceres," he said, "you cannot do this to the earth. It is your work to see that the crops grow." "Help me find my daughter," said Ceres. "Bring her back to me. Then I will work again." "I can tell you where Proserpine is," answered Jupiter. "Pluto took her to the underworld. I do not know if I can bring her back to you."

The Greeks did not know that the earth travels around the sun. They explained the change in seasons with this story. One of the goddesses in the story is named Ceres. From her name we get our word "cereal." Ceres was the goddess of the harvest. She made the flowers bloom and the crops grow.. She was Jupiter's sister.

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