The Story of Four Seasons

The story begins with Demeter, the goddess of the harvest. She was one of the goddesses that lived on Mount Olympus. As she was the goddess of harvest, she would often come down to the earth from Mount Olympus to check the progress of the crops. She had a daughter named Persephone who was known for her charming beauty, and she was often described to be particularly happy. One legend even states that, wherever she walked, flowers would grow in her path. Demeter was so found of her daughter that she would bring her down to earth every time she visits. On one of the trips of these two beautiful women, when picking flowers from a field, Persephone caught the attention of the ruler of the underworld, Hades. He was attracted to her because she had something he didn’t have. She was full of life unlike him and that was especially appealing to him. As he was incredibly lonely besides being attracted to her, he wanted to make Persephone his queen.

When Hades saw Persephone in the field, Demeter was out of sight. Persephone had walked away from her mother to pick a beautiful flower for her as a gift. Hades used this opportunity and took her to the underworld. Persephone became his queen by force and Demeter had no idea about what happened. All she knew was that her daughter was gone. Because of the grief of the goddess of harvest, all the crops died, and the harvest was ruined.

As Zeus and Hades had a complicated relationship with each other, Zeus didn’t want to be involved in this situation at first. However, as Demeter’s depression caused a famine that lasted a full year, Zeus couldn’t stay on the sidelines as this situation was affecting every living thing on the earth. He tried talking to Demeter at first, but she said that her grief wouldn’t be over till she got her daughter back.

Zeus had no choice but to strike a deal with Hades that would allow Persephone to be with her mother for six months out of the year. Hades agreed to let her go. But before she left, he urged Persephone to assuage her terrible hunger, as she hadn’t eaten a single thing since she came to the Underworld, by eating six pomegranate seeds. Sadly, this act of kindness was a ruse, as anyone who tasted the food of Hades was condemned to remain in the Underworld forever.

A deal was struck in which Persephone would return to Hades for six months of the year for each seed of pomegranate she ate, and she would spend the rest of the year above ground with Demeter. Demeter reluctantly agreed to the deal. She restored Earth’s fertility and returned to Olympus with Persephone. But when Persephone returned to the Underworld, the earth became colder and less fertile until her re-emergence months later. Thus, the four seasons were born.