Long ago, there was a kind and beautiful goddess named Persephone. She loved to spend her days picking flowers in the meadow, laughing in the sunshine. One day, while she was gathering blossoms, a god named Hades, who ruled the dark Underworld, saw her and was instantly enchanted by her beauty. He decided he wanted her to be his queen, so he quickly took Persephone down into his dark, cold kingdom, far beneath the Earth.
When Persephone’s mother, Demeter, found out that her daughter was missing, she was heartbroken. She searched high and low, calling for Persephone, but she was nowhere to be found. In her sadness, Demeter couldn’t care for the Earth anymore. The crops stopped growing, the animals became weak, and the land turned cold and barren. Winter seemed to last forever, and everything felt still and lifeless.
After a long time, Demeter learned that Hades had taken Persephone to the Underworld. She was so upset that she asked Zeus, the king of the gods, for help. Zeus knew how much Demeter and the world were suffering, so he called a meeting of all the gods. They decided that Persephone should return to her mother, but because she had eaten a few seeds from a pomegranate in the Underworld, she would have to spend part of the year with Hades.
So, the gods made a plan: Persephone would spend part of the year in the Underworld with Hades, and the rest of the year with Demeter on Earth. Whenever Persephone was with her mother, the Earth would bloom with flowers, and the trees would be full of fruit. It would be spring and summer, warm and full of life. But when Persephone went back to the Underworld, Demeter would feel sad and the Earth would grow cold again, bringing winter.
And so, every year, Persephone’s journey repeats: when she goes down to the Underworld, winter arrives, and when she returns to her mother, spring comes back to the world.