Zeus -- ever mindful of the gods' need for worshipers -- decided he had to do something to placate his raging sister Demeter. When soothing words wouldn't work, as a last resort Zeus sent Hermes to Hades to bring the daughter of Demeter back up to the light. Hades agreed to let his wife Persephone go back, but first, Hades offered Persephone a farewell meal.
Persephone knew she couldn't eat in the Underworld if she ever hoped to return to the land of the living, and so she had diligently observed a fast, but Hades, her would-be husband, was so kind now that she was about to return to her mother Demeter, that Persephone lost her head for a second -- long enough to eat a pomegranate seed or six. Perhaps Persephone didn't lose her head. Perhaps she had already grown fond of her implacable husband. At any rate, according to a covenant among the gods, the consumption of food guaranteed that Persephone would be allowed (or forced) to return to the Underworld and Hades.
And so it was arranged that Persephone could be with her mother Demeter for two thirds of the year, but would spend the remaining months with her husband. Accepting this compromise, Demeter agreed to let seeds sprout from the earth for all but three months a year -- the time known as winter -- when Demeter's daughter Persephone was with Hades.
Spring returned to the earth and would again every year when Persephone returned to her mother Demeter.
To further show her goodwill to man, Demeter gave another of Celeus' sons, Triptolemus, the first grain of corn and lessons in ploughing and harvesting. With this knowledge, Triptolemus traveled the world, spreading Demeter's gift of agriculture.
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