The Tale of Persephone and Hades

By Samma Jaye

Hades had watched her for many months before he stole Persephone away from her mother, Demeter, the goddess of the harvest. He savored the pain he caused his sister, and he savored the idea of what he would do with his beautiful niece once he stole her away. His godly body ached for her, and one day in the very beginning of spring, he knew the time had come.

He waited until just the right moment, when he knew that Demeter would have her beautiful daughter in her sight, as she painted the flowers their bright colors. He rose from the earth, a deep pit rising from the very depths of hell in his golden chariot led by four of the blackest of black horses.

He heard Demeter's screams as he stole away Persephone, and he laughed at her. He felt the puny fists of Persephone beating against his chest as her mind registered what was happening to her, as he turned his chariot around, plunging back into the underworld. His chariot was swift and he tossed a piece of meat to Cerberus, laughing cruelly as Persephone cried. He put a coin into the hand of the gatekeeper, and then whispered into Persephone's ear.

"Welcome home, My love. Your new kingdom, Tartarus."

"You evil man!" Persephone cried.

Hades laughed again, drinking her tears from her cheek before carrying her into his brimstone palace. He placed her upon her throne of ivory, and jewels, and knelt before her.

"What do you think?" He asked, twisting a finger around her hair, and wiping away one of her fresh tears with a soft hand. Softer then she thought it would be, from a man who took pleasure in others pain, a man who found beauty and joy in the music of the harpies wings.

"I hate it." She whispered. "I am never speaking to you, as long as I live."

"Then you shan't be speaking to anyone for a very long time, my beautiful." Hades stood, wrapping his cloak around himself, his black eyes staring down on her. "Get used to it, my darling Persephone. You will not be leaving any time soon."

Hades left her side and walked among the dead, their souls weeping, and crying out for his mercy. He ignored the pleas, and stalked on. It was true, he had a black anger, but he was patient, and he would wait for Persephone to adapt to her new home. When she did, he would make her the happiest woman in the entire world –his wife, his queen. The owner of the all the finest jewels, the finest silks, anything she could ever want, or need she would have wither she asked for it or not.

Persephone sat upon her ivory throne, her hair no longer silky blonde, and sleek but stringy and dirty having taken the color of the environment around her, a dingy color of dust and dirt, clinging to what had once been gorgeous. It hung over her face, and beside her in an ebony throne sat her husband, Hades.

The ceremony had taken place in a sacred place in Tartarus among the weeping dead. Persephone had not cried. She had remained quiet in her gown of silver and gold thread that the maidens of Hades' court had dressed her in. Her tears were gone, and instead she was a sullen shell of a woman. His hands were cold against hers, and his lips were not warm when he sealed their marriage with a kiss. When the ceremony was over, he led her by the arm to their thrones where he had only left her side to conduct his rounds of the kingdom. He draped her with jewels, and kisses, and gowns spun of silver and gold. He watched her with admiration of her beauty, but he missed her voice.

In the early evening of summer he made his move to get her to speak to him again. He took her hand from where he sat on his throne, and raised it to his lips, kissing her pale skin.

"My darling Persephone… It has been so long since I heard your voice…Surely you wish to speak to me…to someone?" His voice was calm, and sickly sweet. It had to be, to the ruler of the underworld. His subjects had to trust him and trust him with their souls. He was very cunning that Hades.

Persephone looked at him from the dark pools that were her eyes. "Only my mother."

Hades stood, rage and jealousy filling his body, spreading like thick green paint. "You will never see your mother again." His voice was no longer sweet, but cruel.

"Then I shall never speak again." Persephone said her final words, before sitting back in her throne, casting her jewels to the floor of the throne room, and turning away from her Husband.

On earth, Demeter was heartbroken. The earth had grown cold, and plants would not grow. She missed her daughter, and she wept. She told her woes to Zeus, the king of the gods, who had been bribed already by Hades with a lightening bolt of unimaginable power. He ignored her pleas until earth was swept into frozen tundra, a plague of starvation and death as plants would no longer grow, and animals were hard to find. He could no longer ignore the kidnapping of his daughter, and the sorrows of Demeter.

"Demeter…You may have your daughter back only if she has not eaten anything while in Tatarus. If she has eaten the food of the dead, by the Law of the Gods she cannot be returned." Zeus was patient as he explained, and Hades was furious when he found this news.

In Tartarus an evil gardener had coaxed Persephone, in her happiness of being returned home, outside of the throne room. He was angry with Demeter for having turned him into a lizard many, many years ago and he hated her. He sought his revenge in form of a fruit.

"My dear, would you like something to eat before you go? Surely you do not want to return to your mother looking malnourished?" He asked her, handing her half of a ripe pomegranate, the juicy red seeds looking delectable. Persephone looked into his eyes, and took the fruit, suddenly very hungry, not realizing her starvation while in Hades' kingdom. Before thinking of the consequences, Persephone ate six of the red berries, just as Hermes, the messenger of the gods, swept down to take her back to her mother in his winged shoes.

"NO!" He cried…but it was to late. The evil gardener laughed, and strode away with his fruit and garden tools, while Hermes knelt before the queen of the dead.

"My sweet Persephone…You have eaten the food of the dead…" Persephone gasped, and looked at her berry stained hands, before she fell her to her knees and cried.

Hermes brushed aside a lock of her hair, "Do not worry, sweet Persephone. The king of the Gods shall hear about this traitorous deed…"

Hades was called to a meeting in the Olympus, where he saw his dear sister, Demeter, and eldest brother, Zeus.

"You have done a terrible thing, Hades." Zeus scolded him, and Hades looked at his younger brother, tweaking his mustache.

"Is it my fault I found my wife to be most desirable? I knew I must have her, Zeus. And anyway, what was done is done."

"Hades, Persephone must be returned to her mother. The people of earth are dying in this frozen tundra they are forsaken to." Zeus spoke sternly, fingering a lightening bolt beside him, growing anxious for a storm.

"I can't return her…she ate the food of the dead. She is mine forever." Hades smirked.

Zeus stroked his own beard, before he came up with his solution. "Persephone will be returned to her mother for six months, before returning to you for the remaining six. Half of the year with her mother, the other half of the year with you in your kingdom."

Hades looked at his younger brother, realizing for once how well he really was suited to be the king of the gods.

"Fine." Hades nodded, wrapping his dark cloak around him once more. "I agree."

Several hours later, he found himself alone in his kingdom with only the dead and the music of the harpies wings as company. Six months he was expected to spend alone…six months without his beautiful wife.

Maybe she would realize she missed him? She missed his attention, his jewels, his riches? The amusement he provided her? Her gowns of silver and gold, or maybe just him…him, and the way he spoke to her, the way he looked when he was idolizing her in her sullen state… He knew he missed her, even if she never spoke, she was never happy.

He knew nothing but that he had to wait.

Six months passed slowly for Hades, and quickly for Persephone. Her last night with her mother, she painted the leaves in reds and yellows, and oranges on the oak trees, and slept beneath the stars in a lush meadow of green grass.

She was delivered back to her husband, who had not changed since she left him, and her heart was torn once more…but this time it was different. Half of it went with her mother, but the other half went to her Husband. As she looked at him, the angle of his jaw, the curl of his black mustache and goatee, how his clothes clung so well to his body. She found herself wrapping her arms around him, half out of grief and half out of relief. She was home –whither she liked it or not.