Long ago many people believed that gods and goddesses were in charge of all the parts ofthe universe. Among these was Demeter, the goddess of the earth. She was in charge ofthe flowers, the trees and the fruits of many plants. She made a beautiful world for human beings. Demeter had a lovely daughter, and her name was Persephone. Persephone spent most ofher time playing among the flowers with her friends. She was very beautiful and very kind, and everyone loved her.There was a powerful god named Hades (also known as Pluto) and he was king of the Underworld. That was the dark place where all the dead were kept. It was in the center of the earth, and no light ever entered there. Hades spent most of his time there, but on one trip to the Upper world, he happened to see Persephone.Persephone was running in a field, gathering flowers with her friends, laughing and shouting. Her grace and beauty made Hades fall in love with her immediately, and he wanted her to be his wife. He knew that she would not want to leave the world of light and beauty, so he asked Zeus, the King of all Gods, to help him.Zeus made a lovely, fragrant flower appear just beyond where Persephone was playing with her friends. As soon as she spotted the flower, she left her friends and ran over to pick it. Just as she put out her hand, the earth broke open and a great black chariot with great black horses drove out. King Hades was driving, and he caught Persephone up with onearm and drove off with her, down to his dark world.Persephone cried out for help. Demeter heard her, but she could not find her daughter. She wentaround asking everyone if they had seen anything, but no one could help her. Finally she asked Helios,the sun, who sees everything. He told her, “I will tell you, Demeter, Zeus did this. He made it possible for King Hades to kidnap Persephone, and she is now his wife, the Queen of the Underworld.”Demeter was very discontented without her daughter. In fact, she was so miserable that she wanted everyone else to be gloomy too. She used her powers as Goddess of the Earth to cause a terrible time on the farms. Seeds did not sprout, and there were no harvests, fruits or vegetables of any kind. Everywhere people were starving.