Children play

It is told that when Demeter, being a child, was playing with Hercyna and this girl let loose a goose, the goddess, when removing the stone under which the goose was hidden, caused water to flow. This is how the river Hercyna in Boeotia, came to be.

Famous bone

Later, when Demeter, being grown up, came to the banquet that Tantalus ₁ offered to the gods, she, unwittingly, ate the arm of Pelops ₁. For perverse Tantalus ₁ had slaughtered his own son, cut up, boiled and offered him as a meal when he feasted the gods. It was then that Demeter tasted Pelops ₁. The gods soon discovered the outrage, giving him life again and joining his limbs together. But since the shoulder was not complete, Demeter fitted an ivory one in its place. This is the bone made of ivory that years later the ACHAEANS had to bring to Troy if the city was ever to be taken (see Conditions to take Troy at Trojan War).

Iasion

It is said that Demeter fell in love with handsome Iasion, and that they lay in a thrice-plowed field. For this love, some believe, Iasion perished, being killed by Zeus with a thunderbolt. Yet others have said that Iasion was destroyed by his own horses, and still others do not think he died at that time; for otherwise they had not said that Demeter could regret his graying hairs (see also Plutus). Some have called Iasion son of Thuscus or son of Ilithius, but others have said that he was the son of Zeus and Electra ₃, one of the PLEIADES. It was Zeus, they say, who instructed his son Iasion in the initiatory rite of the mysteries in Samothrace, the island in the northern Aegean Sea, and they add that Iasion was the first to initiate strangers into them. Among these was Cadmus, who married Harmonia ₁ in Samothrace, where he was initiated by Iasion. Apparently it was at the wedding of Cadmus and Harmonia ₁, Iasion's sister, that Demeter fell in love with Iasion, having children by him, Plutus (Wealth) and Philomelus, who never agreed with each other. But Philomelus, having received nothing from Plutus, and being left with his own talent alone, became the inventor of the wagon, supporting himself by cultivating the fields. It has also been told that Iasion married the goddess Cybele, and that after their son Corybas, the CORYBANTES, who celebrate the rites of his mother, were named. Iasion is now among the stars; for some say that the constellation of the Twins (Gemini) shows Iasion and Triptolemus, the young man who received from Demeter wheat and a chariot of winged Dragons with which, flying through the sky, he sowed the whole inhabited earth.

Macris

Demeter was fond of the Nymph Macris, who lived in the island under which lies the sickle that Cronos used when he mutilated his father (see Castration of Uranus)., though some say this is the reaping-hook of Demeter, who once lived in this island and taught the TITANS how to reap the ears of corn. That is why the island is called Drepane (Sickle-island). In this island, also called Scheria and Corcyra, the Phaeacians live. Macris, daughter of Aristaeus and Autonoe ₂, is one of the nurses of Dionysus ₂, whom she fed on honey while she still lived in the island of Euboea. But when Hera learned that Hermes had brought Dionysus ₂ to Macris, she drove her from that island. Macris then changed her residence, and went to dwell in which became a sacred cave in Phaeacis, and the whole island of Phaeacis or Corcyra was called Macris Isle, to be distinguished from Abantian Macris which was her first residence in Euboea. It was in the sacred cave of Macris Isle that Jason married Medea. Her father Aristaeus, a favorite of the MUSES, discovered honey and the fatness of olive; her mother is one of the daughters of Cadmus. Macris' brother Actaeon became known for having been devoured by his own dogs.

The abduction of Persephone

Demeter's darkest moment came when Hades carried off her daughter Persephone while she was gathering flowers and took her to the Underworld; for then Demeter went about seeking her all over the earth with torches by night and day. No one knew what had happened to Persephone except Hecate, who heard the cries of the girl from her cave, and Helius (the Sun) who sees everything. For nine days Demeter wandered over the earth with her flaming torches so grieved that she would not taste ambrosia or nectar nor would she bath. On the tenth day, Demeter met Hecate, who told her she had heard Persephone's voice though she had not seen who had carried her away. But when Demeter questioned Helius, he replied:

"No one is to blame but Zeus who gave her to Hades, to be called his wife. And Hades seized her and took her loudly crying in his chariot down to his realm of mist and gloom." (Helius to Demeter. Homeric Hymn to Demeter 80).

Helius comforted her saying that Hades, brother of Zeus, was not an unfitting husband, but this was a poor consolation for Demeter, who therafter avoided Olympus and the gathering of the gods, an changing her form, came instead to the towns and fields of men.

Not in a mood for jokes

Looking for her daughter, Demeter came very thirsty to Attica, where a woman Misme gave her to drink. And they tell that when the goddess drank the water without a break, Misme's son Ascalabus laughed at her, saying that she should drink from a tub or a bowl. It was on hearing this that Demeter, who was not in a mood for jokes, threw the rest of the water at him, turning him into a gecko. This is why it is said that he who kills this animal is loved by the goddess.

Demeter comes to Eleusis

Disguised as an old woman, Demeter arrived then to Eleusis where Celeus ₁ was king. She met the king's daughters, and calling herself Doso, told them that she was a Cretan woman who had been carried away by pirates, and that she now could work at any domestic task that would be given to her. Demeter then came to the king's house where she, because of her sorrow, sat down a long time without speaking and without tasting food or drink until an old woman, Iambe, joked the goddess and made her smile, cheering her heart with many jests. This is why women make jokes at the festival of the Thesmophoria, indulging in coarse language; for it was by lewd words that Demeter, despite her grief, burst into laughter.

Nurse in Eleusis

Demeter. 3712: Niederländischer Maler des 16. Jahrhundert: Fünf Mythologische Figuren. Niederländischer Romanist nach Rosso Fiorentino. Landesmuseum Oldenburg, Das Schloß.

Demeter then met the king's wife Metanira, who asked her to nurse her child Demophon ₂. Demeter loved him, and wishing to make him immortal, she anointed him by day with ambrosia as if he were a god, and by night she put him on the fire and stripped off its mortal flesh. But as the child grew marvelously by day, Praxithea ₂, an Eleusinian woman, watched her, and when she saw the child in the fire, she cried out and the babe was consumed by the flames. Others say that Metanira herself watched Demeter's procedures and lamented in alarm, and when Demeter heard her she snatched the child from the fire and cast him to the ground, saying:

"Witless are you mortals … For I would have made your son deathless and unaging all his days, but now he can in no way escape death …" (Demeter to Metanira. Homeric Hymn to Demeter 256).

Demophon ₂ was taken up from the ground, and his sisters washed and embraced him lovingly, but, as they say, he was not comforted, since these were less skilful hands which were holding him now. It was then that Demeter revealed herself, changing her stature and her looks, and thrusting Old Age away; she then taught Celeus ₁ and the Eleusinians the rites that were to be celebrated in her honor. However, Demeter had not forgotten her daughter, and for her sake she caused famine in the whole earth for an entire year, threatening to destroy mankind. It was then that Zeus sent Iris ₁ to persuade Demeter to return to Olympus, but Demeter refused to go. And after Iris ₁, many other gods came offering her all kind of gifts and rights if she would return, but she could not be persuaded. Rejecting all their words, Demeter declared that she would never set foot on Olympus again, nor let the earth bear fruit, until she beheld with her own eyes her daughter Persephone.

Persephone returns

In order to solve this dilemma, Zeus sent Hermes to the Underworld to fetch Persephone back. Hades obeyed Zeus' request, but before Persephone left, he gave her a pomegranate seed to eat so that she would be bound to his realm. Hermes took Persephone to her mother and there was a joyous reunion until Demeter learned that Persephone had tasted food in the Underworld, since for having done so she would have to dwell in the Underworld a third part of the seasons every year. It is told that Ascalaphus ₂, son of the river Acheron (the river of pain in the Underworld) witnessed against Persephone in the matter of the pomegranate. According to him, Persephone had plucked a pomegranate, and after peeling it off, had eaten seven of the seeds. This he declared; but for having witnessed against her daughter, Demeter laid a heavy rock on him in the Underworld; and when later Heracles ₁ rolled away the stone, Demeter, neither forgetting nor forgiving his tittle-tattle, turned him into a short-eared owl. Yet others say that it was Persephone who transformed Ascalaphus ₂ into an owl by throwing in his face a handful of water from the river Pyriphlegethon (another river in the Underworld ). Zeus then sent Rhea ₁ to reason with Demeter, and it was agreed that Persephone would stay one third of the year in the Underworld and the two thirds with the OLYMPIANS. Demeter then allowed the grain to grow again, and the famine was averted.

Triptolemus

During her stay in Eleusis, Demeter gave a chariot of winged Dragons and wheat to Triptolemus with which, flying through the sky, he sowed the whole inhabited earth. Some say that Triptolemus was the son of Celeus ₁, but others say otherwise, and there are many other versions of his parentage: Eleusis and Cothonea; Trochilus and an unidentified Eleusinian woman; Oceanus and Gaia; Dysaules and an unknown woman; Rarus and Amphictyon's Daughter. Sometimes it is said that the king of Eleusis was Eleusinus, and that Demeter, pretending to be a nurse, took care of Triptolemus (instead of Demophon ₂). Demeter fed Triptolemus by day with divine milk, but by night hid him in the fire. As Triptolemus was growing more than mortals usually do, they watched Demeter, and when the king saw terrified that Demeter was about to put the child in the fire, the goddess struck Eleusinus dead. Eumelus ₄, who was the first to settle in the land of Patrae in Achaea, received the cultivated corn from Triptolemus. Once Eumelus ₄'s son Antheias yoked the dragons to the car of Triptolemus when its owner was asleep, and tried to sow the seed himself, but he fell off the chariot and died. Later Triptolemus and Eumelus ₄ founded the city Antheia (near Pylos in southwestern Peloponnesus) in memory of the latter's son. Triptolemus was sometimes threatened by the kings of the countries he visited:
In Scythia, King Lyncus ₁, offered Triptolemus hospitality when the latter came with Demeter's grain, but attacked his guest with a sword when he was asleep. But through Demeter's intervention, the king was turned into a lynx, and Triptolemus was saved. Distributing the grain to all nations, Triptolemus came also to Thrace where Carnabon was king of the Getae. There he was hospitably received, but just to conceal that an ambush was being prepared. At the order of Carnabon, one of the Dragons in Triptolemus' chariot was killed so to make it impossible for him to escape in his chariot. But Demeter intervened, substituted another dragon, and punished Carnabon by picturing him among the stars, holding a dragon in his hands always about to kill it (this is the constellation Ophiuchus, or Serpent-Holder; see CONSTELLATIONS). Some say that later, Celeus ₁ wished to kill Triptolemus, but when this was known, Demeter handed over the kingdom to Triptolemus, who called it Eleusis after his father. Triptolemus established the sacred rites in honor of Demeter, which are called Thesmophoria.

Phytalus

Phytalus, who once received Demeter in his home, was given the fig tree by her in return for his hospitality. That is why it is written in his grave:

"Hero and king, Phytalus here welcome gave to Demeter … when first she created fruit of the harvest; sacred fig is the name which mortal men have assigned it." (Pausanias, Description of Greece 1.37.2).

Some were punished by Demeter …

To Erysichthon ₂ Demeter sent Famine for having cut down a sacred oak. As much as he ate, so much he desired again; so at the end he ate himself and died. Something similar happened to Triopas ₂: he became king of the Thessalians, and in trying to roof his own house, he tore down the temple of Demeter, built by the men of old. So, for having destroyed the temple of Demeter, hunger was brought on him, and he could never afterwards be satisfied by any amount of food. About the SIRENS it is said that they were made flying creatures through the will of Demeter because they had not helped Persephone.

… but she also felt compassion

All the children born to Plemnaeus (the son of King Peratus of Sicyon) by his wife died the very first time they wailed. Finally, Demeter took pity on him, came to Aegialia in the guise of a strange woman, and reared for Plemnaeus his son Orthopolis, who later had a daughter Chrysorthe, whom Apollo loved.