Demeter lived happily with her daughter Persephone. Persephone was the most important person in Demeter’s life.

One day, Persephone was playing in some beautiful meadows with her friends when suddenly the ground parted beneath her feet. She found herself falling down through the ground. The light disappeared as she reached the bottom. It was in this dark, damp and uninviting place that she met Hades the king of the Underworld. He was a frightening god who made it clear that he intended to keep her there with him in the underworld with all the ghosts of dead people for company.

Demeter meanwhile was told about the disappearance of Persephone. She missed her daughter very much and spent months looking for her. At one point she even turned the mortal boy Triptolemos into a god so that he could spread the message of the harvest to mankind.

When Demeter realised that she would never find Persephone herself, she went to Zeus the king of the gods and asked him if he could help her. Zeus explained that Hades his brother was keeping Persephone captive in the Underworld. She would be allowed to go free if she had not eaten or drunk anything.

Demeter went to the Underworld to find her daughter. Hades however had given Persephone some Pomegranite seeds. It seemed that Persephone would never return to her mother.

Demeter decided that the world would never have another spring again if she did not get her daughter back. Zeus finally came up with a solution. For part of the year Persephone would live in the Underworld, and for the other parts of the year she would live in the world of the living.