smile. And this is what you must do for King
Pluto."

"Never!" answered Proserpina, looking as mis-
erable as she could. "I shall never smile again
till you set me down at my mother's door."

But she might just as well have talked to the
wind that whistled past them; for Pluto urged
on his horses, and went faster than ever. Proser-
pina continued to cry out, and screamed so long
and so loudly, that her poor little voice was
almost screamed away; and when it was nothing
but a whisper, she happened to cast her eyes
over a great, broad field of waving grain and
whom do you think she saw? Who, but Mother
Ceres, making the corn grow, and too busy to
notice the golden chariot as it went rattling
along. The child mustered all her strength, and
gave one more scream, but was out of sight be-
fore Ceres had time to turn her head.

King Pluto had taken a road which now
began to grow excessively gloomy. It was bor-
dered on each side with rocks and precipices, be-
tween which the rumbling of the chariot wheels
was reverberated with a noise like rolling thun
der. The trees and bushes that grew in the

[[224]]

p223 _ -chap- _ toc-1 _ p224w _ toc-2 _ +chap+ _ p225

v?