At last he consented to do so. Proserpina had not eaten food for months and had just bitten a pomegranate, which a servant had brought her, when in walked King Pluto and Mercury. Proserpina quickly withdrew the pomegranate from her mouth, but she swallowed six of the seeds.
Pluto did not know this, however, and let her accompany Mercury back to the earth. But for each of the six pomegranate seeds she has to spend one month in King Pluto’s palace, and only six months with her mother, Ceres.
THE UGLY DUCKLING
(Adapted from Hans Andersen)
Part One
Wherein it is shown that one may not be discouraged by a bad beginning.
An old duck sat on her nest in the high grass just outside of the barn yard. It was summer time; the corn fields were yellow, and the hay had already been put up in stacks. Everybody was busy, but the old duck was busiest of all, for she had hatching to do and it kept her closely confined to her house.
She was very lonesome, for none of the other ducks came to see her, and she was stiff and worn out sitting so long. But she kept her mind on her business until one day the egg shells began to crack. “Peep! Peep!” the baby ducks cried, and then “Quack! Quack!” answered the mother—which we all know is duck talk.