Hello again. So, here's my favorite chapter of them all. Hope you enjoy it!
~Cissa
So, here comes the myth that I am probably the best known for, and, coincidentally, the one that makes me look the most like a bad guy. Anyways, this is the story of my beloved Persephone and me.
It all started one day when I was just taking a nice little stroll to stretch my legs and get away from that blasted underworld. I was just walking along minding my own business when that stupid son of that stupid Aphrodite shot me in the stupid back with one of his stupid arrows. That's right, I'm talking about none other than Eros (Cupid, to you). Now, as you all know if you get shot with one of Eros' accursed arrows you fall in love with the first person you see. Now, it was just my luck that after getting shot by the arrow the first person my eyes laid on was Persephone, the daughter of Zeus and that brat Demeter.
I was immediately seized with a sudden longing to hold her in my arms and call her my wife. I knew I could not continue my existence unless I had her as mine. So, cursing Eros all the way there, I went up to Olympus and asked Zeus for his daughter's hand in marriage. Now, most myths skim over this crucial bit of detail and say that I simply snatched the girl away without asking for permission at all. This is about the biggest lie I've ever heard in my entire life, and I've lived a long time.
See, I did go and ask Zeus for permission to marry his daughter just as any decent guy should. Now, Zeus didn't exactly grant me permission to marry his daughter, BUT he didn't deny me permission either. So, being a loose interpretationalist and not being told I couldn't do something, I went ahead and did it.
Persephone was out picking flowers and one in particular caught her eye. When she leaned over to go and pick it I had the ground open up and I swooped out in my black carriage and took her down to the underworld in a blaze of glory. Any girl would have been happy to have been carried off like that, but not Persephone.
She refused to eat anything and kept pining away for her mother. If it wasn't for Eros' arrows I would have let her go home. Unfortunately, the magic of the arrows never wears off and I was so helplessly in love with her I couldn't have born it if she had gone.
Well, as you might have imagined, Demeter wasn't so keen about having her daughter taken from her, and she went on a rampage. She questioned everyone she knew about what happened to her daughter. Finally Helios told her that I had taken her, and Demeter was absolutely furious! She became even more bratty than usual and sent the whole world into a kind of barren, famine like state. It was actually vaguely amusing.
Unfortunately, Zeus could not overlook the suffering of the people and so he called me and Persephone to Mount Olympus. Being the smart person that I am, I had Persephone eat a couple pomegranate seeds so that she would be forced to come back to the underworld before we paid our little visit.
We got up to Olympus, and Zeus is there waiting with Demeter. Demeter immediately insists I give her daughter back while I, calmly, explain that I had Zeus's permission to marry Persephone and therefore did nothing wrong. Zeus, being caught in the middle of everything, decided to throw the decision entirely to Persephone, poor girl.
Persephone's eyes darted between me and he mother and there was a look of indecision on her face. She just couldn't decide. Finally, she told Zeus she didn't know and that he should decide for her. Zeus than decided that Persephone should spend half the year with me and half the year with Demeter.
I was a little disappointed, but still glad that Persephone hadn't completely decided against me. She told me later she actually found me dark and romantic which I thought was pretty good…you know…for me. Anyways, I got the girl and got the better of my bratty little sister which is always a big plus in my book.