In torn clothes, with her hair loose, strewn with ashes and gunpowder, there is a pitiful and sad old-time Sorrowful mother, Demeter. In her hands are dried spikelets and a withered poppy color. Blurred eyes, in which there are no more tears, confuse and helplessly wander from subject to subject. Mother is looking for a lost daughter.
She left her in the middle of a meadow on the shore of the Ocean to play with nymphs and forbade her to collect daffodils, treacherous flowers dedicated to the underground deities. Persephone was obedient. She plucked the tulips, which kept a yellow or red glass on a strong stalk, hyacinths, in which the soul of a beautiful young man lives, quiet kind violets and heavenly eyes of forget-me-nots, but she walked around the daffodils because, as her mother said, she wanted to sleep in their white petals, and their smell blocks thoughts from the sky. And then the earth created a flower that the sun had not yet seen. A hundred heads grew from one root, which shone with gold inflorescences, the cut edges of white petals glowed with bright purple. A wonderful smell filled the heavens and the earth, penetrated the salty depths of the sea so that all the Nereids rose from their diamond lodges and shouted “Ah!”
Persephone looked around for no one to see, and quickly plucked a flower. The smell of a flower intoxicated her, her eyes clouded over, and darkness filled her soul. Then the earth opened, and Hades, the god of hell, in a chariot drawn by black horses, stole Persephone. Recovering, she began to call for help, screaming. But not one god heard her voice, not one of the nymphs with whom she played in the meadow ran to help. Only little Kiana, a water mermaid, spread her weak arms, trying to block the way for the rapist. But black horses flew over her, the nymph burst into tears and spread like a stream. Powdered by clouds, they rushed with a hurricane whistle above the land and the sea. Familiar coasts disappeared from Persephone’s eyes, flowers spilled out of her basket. Finally, the abyss of Tartarus was revealed.
In vain, the mother asked everyone she met about her. Neither God, nor man, nor bird could say anything about his daughter. Demeter wandered around all the seas and lands. At night, lit a torch and in its red-light searched the crevices in the rocks, forest thickets, the corners of ancient temples, the hollow of rotten trees. She looked for Persephone for nine days and nine nights and was not on the earth a corner in which a confused mother would not look.
Finally, tired and helpless, Demeter came to Eleusis near the Salamino tributary and sat near the Virgin Spring. Stone moment came to the source for the water of the daughter of King Kelei. They noticed the unfortunate grandmother in torn clothes and called her mom, not knowing how much they injured her heart. They comforted Demeter as they could and asked her to go with them. Demeter agreed and said: “I can be of help in the house. I know women's work and know how to lay a bed for the owners. I know a lot of good tales and can take care of young children. ” The princes rejoiced because they had recently had a brother.
When Demeter was near the threshold, she seemed to Queen Metanira respected and majestic. The queen ran to a stranger and asked to sit down. Demeter sat down and in this pose was like one of the grandmothers who look after children in the royal palaces or housekeeping. Women did not recognize her, because it is difficult for mortals to recognize God. Seeing her sadness, they tried to amuse her with jokes. In the end, she smiled, spoke, and took the food she was given. In gratitude for the hospitality, Demeter began to raise the youngest prince, a weak and painful child. Desiring to make him immortal, she took the child from the cradle at night and put it into the fire so that the fire would destroy everything earthly and mortal in him. Once Metanira saw this through a crack in the doorway and, screaming, ran into the room, confident that the strange woman wanted to burn her son. The child fell out of Demeter’s hands and disappeared on fire. At the same instant, the room was filled with the smell of grain, garden fruits and all the colors of the earth. From a ragged old woman, a heavenly beauty rose. Golden hair, like spikelets of ripe wheat, lit the house like lightning. Recognizing the great goddess, Metanira fell at her feet. Before leaving, Demeter gave Tsarevich Tryptolem grain grains and a chariot drawn by winged horses and ordered him to fly around the earth from end to end and disperse the grain when dry days were over.