[Greek Mythology] The Love of Persephone

The world is in the desolation and depression of autumn, the land without the goddess of spring is no longer alive, and everything is in depression.Mortals prayed to the Greek gods, imploring this terrible disaster to end.They don't know the cause of the matter, but they are worried and panicked by the sudden change of seasons, and deeply fear that this is only the beginning.

On this day, a sad and tired mother walked down the high Mount Olympus.Her long, beautiful, wavy golden hair was dull and dry, and the blond tresses like ears of ripe corn were disheveled.The nobility, solemnity and majesty of the past are gone, leaving only the infinite sorrow of a mother who lost her beloved daughter.Demeter, the goddess of harvest, walks on the earth in such a distraught manner.

She has searched all the entrances to the underworld that she knows, but in the end she found nothing.The desperate Demeter shed tears and was depressed all day long.Distraught, she abandoned her priesthood, and the golden ears of wheat and the golden stick in her arms that never left her were nowhere to be found.She came to the world in a daze, missing her dear daughter in pain.

Wherever der Meter's footsteps touched, everything withered quickly, and not even a blade of grass could grow.The Harvest Goddess walked on the earth in such a miserable way, her inner pain infected all the crops around her.The crops withered, the fruits were necrotic, the earth became lifeless, and there was no more harvest in the world.

The world's famine began to occur, and mortals began to panic and pray to heaven uninterruptedly.The hopes of so many people were long enough to reach the temple of Zeus, but Zeus just sent someone to severely reprimand Demeter for his negligence in exchange for the mother's weeping pleading for mercy.The poor mortals saved their food and used it to sacrifice to the temple, hoping that the gods would have mercy on their sins.But not long after, their sacrifice had to be interrupted due to the extreme lack of food, and the world fell into great turmoil and panic.And when the sacrifices stopped and the world was in turmoil, Zeus, the cruel god king, finally began to feel panic.

"Dear Demeter, please listen to my advice. Don't take your momentary resentment on poor mortals, or your kind and soft heart will regret it in the future." Become a falcon Zeus found the figure of the goddess of harvest in the world, and he stopped her to persuade her earnestly, "Now Olympus and the world are in turmoil because of you, and I think my stern brother Hades must also feel it." I regret it. How about we take this opportunity to conclude a new agreement?"

"Please return my daughter to me, God King." Tears rolled out of Demeter's wide-open eyes, which were empty, as if he couldn't understand what Zeus was saying.

Zeus has always been pleasant and patient when necessary, and he persuaded: "Poor Demeter, I certainly miss your motherly heart. But Persephone is prophesied to leave you." Beside, what is the point of doing this? Now I have a suitable proposal: we take advantage of the interruption of sacrifices to ask Hades, the king of the underworld, to stop his atrocities. Of course, my elder brother is Wan Wan I don’t want to bow my head easily. So my suggestion is to let the beautiful Persephone marry him and become the Queen of the Underworld, but Hades must swear that she will return to Mount Olympus for half of each year, and return to the How about going to my mother's side?"

"God-King..." Demeter called out sadly, her loving mother's heart was already shaken, "I certainly hope that Persephone can use this to escape that terrible fate, but how can I face the eloquence? God Hermes? How do I face that poor man who wholeheartedly helped me save my daughter?"

"Of course I can understand your hesitation, because Hermes is also my beloved son." Zeus said hypocritically, "But gentle Demeter, think about it, how can that prophecy be escaped?" What about you? You got away with it this time, but next time it will take Persephone away from you, we may not have this chance. Now my proposal is the best ending. I I have sent a messenger to propose to Hades that as long as he promises to give Persephone half of her freedom, I will lead the gods to hold a legitimate wedding for them! The messenger told me that Hades is hesitating."

Under Zeus' unremitting persuasion, Demeter finally cried out in pain: "Persephone! Hermes! Please forgive my weakness and incompetence! I am absolutely unwilling to lose my daughter." Ah!" The haggard goddess of harvest finally followed Zeus back to the Temple of Olympus.

The main gods above the temple have gathered together, each with their own thoughts.Only Hermes looked restless and anxious, and tried his best to persuade several familiar main gods to help intercede, but most of them chose to frown and remain silent.Seeing Zeus and Demeter coming in, Hermes' eyes lit up, and he wanted to stand up and tell the Harvest Goddess the new revelation he had received from the Goddess of Fate.

But Zeus was the first to stop him, and the god-king sat down with Demeter.Seeing that the eyes of the Harvest Goddess were so red and swollen from crying, she deliberately avoided Hermes' gaze, which made the heart of the Liar God sink.

"Then, let us wait quietly for Pluto's reply." Zeus said.

The atmosphere of rain was brewing in the temple. After a long and silent wait, the sound of a crow flapping its wings finally broke the silence in the room.Zeus took down Pluto's reply.He looked at it carefully, and then stroked his beard and smiled.He said to the crowd: "My brother has agreed to my proposal."

At this time, only hearing the sound of the chair being thrown to the ground, Demeter stood up uncontrollably, crying in relief and shame.Covering her face, she staggered out of the temple.None of the gods present chased after her, because they had all seen the revival of vitality on the earth and the fruits that grew out through their temples in the world, which already showed the default attitude of the Harvest Goddess.

Zeus stood up in satisfaction, especially gave Hermes a warning look, and left first.And the gods also left the temple of deliberation one by one - for them who enjoyed the sacrifices in the world, Demeter and Pluto reached an agreement, and the mortals would sacrifice to them again after they got the food.Who would care about the love of a pair of young people?

Zeus' approach already seems to be the best proposal.Now, even Demeter has chosen to give up and surrender, only Hermes and Persephone, the lovers, still long for reunion and even eternal togetherness.But what could the two young gods do?

Hermes was the last one to leave the Temple of Discussion, he seemed out of his mind and in great pain.His appearance made some gods offended by him laugh secretly, but it also made other gods who had friendly relations secretly worried and couldn't bear it.Apollo, the sun god, is one of them.After the meeting, he deliberately stayed to tell Hermes something he knew.He called out to Hermes who was about to leave.

"Hermes, my closest friend and most beloved brother." The kind and considerate sun god—the god of light, music, prophecy and medicine, the concern on his face is more touching than handsome.Apollo said to Hermes: "Wait a minute, I have some news for you, which may be beneficial to your current situation!"

The author has something to say: *What kind of trick does Apollo plan to support~