"Then open your arms, mother dear," cried a well-known voice, "and
take me back again." And Proserpina came running along the pathway and
flung herself on her mother's bosom.

It would be impossible to tell how happy they were; so happy that they
cried a little, for people cry when they are very glad as well as when
they are unhappy.

After a little while Mother Ceres looked anxiously at Proserpina.
"My child," she said, "did you taste any food while you were in King
Pluto's palace?"

"Dearest mother," answered Proserpina, "I will tell you the whole
truth. Until this morning not a morsel of food had passed my lips.
But a servant brought me a pomegranate on a golden-plate, a very dry
pomegranate, with no juice inside, nothing but seeds and skin; and I
was so hungry, and had not tasted any food for such a long time, that
I took just one bite. The moment I tasted it King Pluto and Mercury
came into the room. I had not swallowed a morsel, but O mother! I
hope it was no harm, six pomegranate seeds remained in my mouth and I
swallowed them."

"O miserable me!" said Mother Ceres. "For each of these six
pomegranate seeds you must spend a month every year in King Pluto's
palace. You are only half restored to me; you will be six months with
me and then six months with the King of Darkness!"

"Do not be so vexed, mother dear," said Proserpina. "It was very
unkind of King Pluto to carry me off, but then, as he says, it was