Persephone was the daughter of Demeter the goddess of Earth's fertility and harvest
and Zeus the king of all the Olympians
Demeter cared as deeply for her daughter as she did for the earth
Persephone was very beautiful
and she lived a happy life playing with the other children
and spending time in the gardens of Olympus
one day as Persephone was playing in the garden
the earth suddenly opened up
Hades the god of the underworld emerged from the darkness
some time ago
Hades had seen her sitting in the garden
and he was struck by her beauty ever since
he desperately wanted her to be his queen of the underworld
so one day he approached Zeus
asking for permission to take Persephone as his queen
with little concern for how Demeter would respond to such a request
Zeus agreed and Hades was given consent
Hades took hold of poor Persephone and carried her gently to the underworld
Persephone shouted for help but to no avail
Demeter was struck with grief and she scoured the earth in search of her daughter
her immense sorrow caused the earth to grow dark, cold and barren
the once lush meadows yellowed
the trees curled and firmed
the rain stopped
Demeter finally contacted Zeus
he informed her of Persephone's marriage to Hades in the underworld
Demeter grew into a motherly rage
she demanded Zeus to return Persephone to her care
but Zeus refused
Demeter sought to punish Zeus for betraying her and their daughter
she left Olympus leaving the earth cold and barren
Zeus had no other choice but to agree to Demeter's demands
he told Hermes the messenger to bring Persephone back up to Demeter scare
in the underworld Persephone had grown to love Hades
who treated her with compassion and loved her as his queen
Hermes reached the underworld
he requested that Persephone come back to earth with him
Hades knew he could not refuse the commands of Zeus
but he also could not part from his beloved Persephone
one morning Persephone went into the underworlds garden
and was offered a pomegranate by the gardener
up until that point
Persephone had resisted eating anything offered to her
she knew that if she ate any food from the underworld
she would be bound to it forever
but that morning Persephone was so hungry
she took the pomegranate and ate six of its seeds
then abruptly Hermes the messenger of the gods appeared before her
he told her that Demeter had caused the earth to freeze
that no crops would grow and mortals were dying
the only thing that would stop her was Persephone's return
Persephone reluctantly allowed Hermes to take her to Olympus
Demeter was so happy to see her daughter
Zeus too happy to see the flowers on earth and blooming again
suddenly the throne room darkened and the Gods turned
as Hades step out of the shadows
he was holding the partially eaten pomegranate in his hand
Persephone has eaten the fruit of the underworld Hades said coolly
she must return and rule it with me
while Demeter resumed her tantrum
Zeus considered Persephone quietly
how many seeds did you eat daughter? he asked
Persephone told him six
Zeus stood up from his throne and the assembly quieted
I rule that she will spend six months of each year in the underworld with her husband
and six months with her mother
during Persephone's six months on earth
the land was fertile beautiful and warm
The Meadows were lush and of the deepest green
the rains came often and drought was unseen
however when Persephone left the land and entered Hades domain
the earth was dark with no growth
Demeter grieved for her daughter and had little time to nurture the land
thus according to Greek mythology the seasons were created
the autumn and winter months were when Persephone
sat on the throne of the underworld beside Hades
and the spring and summer months
were when Persephone was reunited with her dear mother Demeter
a long long time ago
far away above the clouds high up amongst the clouds of Mount Olympus
the gods lived in a Content and happy life away from the humans
they enjoyed all the pleasures of life
while humans were suffering on earth
at times when the gods were bored
they would play with the humans on earth as well
they thought it was good fun by keeping away the fire
from people for many many years
people on earth could cook and warm themselves using the fire
but without it they were suffering
Prometheus the son of Zeus was a kind and compassionate man
who took pity on mankind
when he saw the sorry state of humans on earth without the fire
he took pity on them
he requested his father to give fire to the humans
but Zeus refused
so one night he stole the fire from Zeus
and gave it to the people on earth
Zeus was very angry
and ordered that Prometheus be chained
to the side of a mountain to suffer there for all eternity
but that wasn't enough for Zeus
he decided to punish him further and this time he decided to trick his son
the gods created a beautiful woman called Pandora
and took her to Prometheus
but Prometheus had his doubts
he was afraid that the Gods were trying to trick him
so he decided to ignore her
however his brother Epimethius fell in love with the beautiful Pandora
and decided to marry her
they got married and they lived happily together for many months
one day mercury
the messenger of the gods arrived with a mysterious box
he asked Pandora and her husband
to take care of it while he was away
before he left he warned them to never open the box
for days Pandora could not take her eyes off the box
all the time she wondered what was inside
could it be full of shining jewels glittering robes or diamonds
whenever Epimethius was away and no one was around
Pandora would go near the box
and run her fingers over the polished wood and the golden clasp
however one day she could bear it no longer
and her curiosity overcame her
she crept up to the box and gently opened the clasp
slowly lifting the lid she peeked inside
Gods had filled the box with all kind of evils
disease, misery and death swooped and buzzed out of the box stinging her
Pandora screamed and screamed with pain and fear
Epimethius heard her cries as he rode into the courtyard
he ran to aid her taking her into his arms and comforted her
as the evils flew out of their house and spread across the land
it was then that Epimethius heard a tiny little voice calling from the box
let me out let me out
believing that nothing inside the box could be worse
than the horrors that already got out
he opened the lid once more
all that remained was a tiny crumpled butterfly
shivering in the corner
the beautiful butterfly was hope
which mercury had hidden amongst the evils taking pity on mankind
slowly it unfolded its sparkling wings
and brushed them against Pandora healing her wounds
ever since humans have been able to hold on to this hope
in order to survive the wickedness that Pandora had let out