Persephone: A Retelling

"A Nymph in the Forest" by Charles Amable Lenoir

Persephone: Part 1

​I don't think I'll ever forget the day my elementary school teacher introduced our class to Greek Mythology. My friends and I spent hours arguing over which goddess we got to be and jumping on the giant trampoline.


The myths captivated me, and I quickly read everything that the library had on them. Never getting enough, I started filling in the blanks that the vague stories had left. 

I'm excited to share with you my own retelling of Persephone (whose name I mispronounced for years!) This myth has many versions but always left so much to the imagination (and believe me, my imagination went wild). I'll be sharing parts of the book as I write them, so please be patient with any errors you may find, as this is a first draft!

Persephone  

For Persephone, life was one blissful day blended into another. Her days were spent lazily wandering forests and meadows, livening and brightening each flower she touched. Like her mother, Demeter, she was a nature goddess, who reveled in all things glorious and beautiful that grew upon the earth.
She heard vague tales of her relations' warring but had seldom witnessed it, as was her mother's wish. If it had been up to Demeter, Persephone would indeed had known very little of them. However, since her days were spend amongst the gossiping nymphs, dryads, and naiads, she had learned a great deal about her heritage.
She knew of the pairing of earth and sky that brought the Titans forth, of the war between the Olympian gods and Titans, of the scandalous pursuits of her own father, Zeus, the continuous sparring between gods and goddesses, and the pathetically piteous existence of the race known as man.
New tales of intrigue fell daily upon her ears. The latest was, yet again, about one of her father's lovers. She listened as she sat painting a group of unacceptably drab wildflowers.
"Zeus heard his wife coming and turned Io into a cow! Of all things, a cow! Can you imagine?" The nymph giggled with her sisters as they languished in the cool stream's clear water. "Not to be fooled, Hera convinced him to give her the cow as a gift!"
"No!" Another exclaimed. "I can only imagine what mischief Hera had in store for her. I am so glad not to be in her place."
"That's not the least of it either," the first continued. "Hera set a gadfly to chase her. With no respite, she was nearly taken mad, tormented clean out of her mind. And that silly cow ran all the way to Egypt!"
Persephone closed her eyes and shook her head. Would Zeus never learn?
Satisfied with one flower, she moved to the next pale green one. Cupping it in her hands, she blew gently upon it until color blossomed from its core to petals' edge.
These ones will be white, like the Io the cow. She smiled to herself. Despite the foolishness, Persephone found herself taken with these romances. 

Read Persephone Part 2

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