College Success Reading Sample Test: Question 4 of 5

Demeter and Persephone

Long ago in the ancient world, the immortal gods and goddesses of Greece ruled the world from their home on Mount Olympus. One such goddess was Demeter, goddess of the harvest.

Demeter had a beautiful daughter named Persephone, who loved the brightness of spring. One day Persephone was walking through a meadow picking flowers and singing with the birds. Sadly for Persephone, the powerful god of the Underworld, Hades, saw her and immediately fell in love. He climbed into his terrible chariot and emerged from the underworld, captured the lovely Persephone from the meadow, and brought her down to his grim, dark world. There, he hoped Persephone would live happily and become his wife, but that was impossible. Without her mother, Persephone could never be happy or find joy.

Demeter was stricken with grief over the loss of her daughter. She roamed the earth as a very poor old woman until her despair became too great. Then she went to Zeus, the leader of all the gods. She explained what had happened and asked Zeus for his help. Zeus sent a messenger to the underworld telling Hades, who was his brother, to send Persephone back to the earth to spend time by her mother's side.

Hades did not want to give up the girl he loved so well, but no one could deny the great Zeus. So, the god of the underworld tricked Persephone. As Persephone prepared to leave the underworld, she ate the seed of a bright red pomegranate. It was juicy and sweet, but it doomed her to return to the underworld for at least a part of every year.

From that day on, Persephone spent the spring and summer with her mother, Demeter. Through the fall and winter, Persephone returned to Hades' side in the dark underworld, far from her mother.

Demeter was overjoyed to be with her daughter again, but she grieved when Persephone had to return to Hades. For this reason, after the harvest Demeter forced the leaves on the trees to wither and fall. If she felt bare and lonely without her dear daughter, she decided that the earth would share her grief, too. When Persephone returned in springtime, Demeter showed her joy in the buds that sprouted into the green leaves on the trees. And that is why tree limbs are bare in winter but full of life and green leaves through the spring and summer.