“My little Proserpina,” said the king, sitting down, and affectionately drawing her between his knees, “here is Quicksilver, who tells me that a great many misfortunes have befallen innocent people on account of my detaining you in my dominions.  To confess the truth, I myself had already reflected that it was an unjustifiable act to take you away from your good mother.  But, then, you must consider, my dear child, that this vast palace is apt to be gloomy (although the precious stones certainly shine very bright), and that I am not of the most cheerful disposition, and that therefore it was a natural thing enough to seek for the society of some merrier creature than myself.  I hoped you would take my crown for a plaything, and me—­ah, you laugh, naughty Proserpina—­me, grim as I am, for a playmate.  It was a silly expectation.”

“Not so extremely silly,” whispered Proserpina.  “You have really amused me very much, sometimes.”

“Thank you,” said King Pluto, rather dryly.  “But I can see, plainly enough, that you think my palace a dusky prison, and me the iron-hearted keeper of it.  And an iron heart I should surely have, if I could detain you here any longer, my poor child, when it is now six months since you tasted food.  I give you your liberty.  Go with Quicksilver.  Hasten home to your dear mother.”

Now, although you may not have supposed it, Proserpina found it impossible to take leave of poor King Pluto without some regrets, and a good deal of compunction for not telling him about the pomegranate.  She even shed a tear or two, thinking how lonely and cheerless the great palace would seem to him, with all its ugly glare of artificial light, after she herself,—­his one little ray of natural sunshine, whom he had stolen, to be sure, but only because he valued her so much,—­after she should have departed.  I know not how many kind things she might have said to the disconsolate king of the mines, had not Quicksilver hurried her away.

“Come along quickly,” whispered he in her ear, “or his majesty may change his royal mind.  And take care, above all things, that you say nothing of what was brought you on the golden salver.”

In a very short time, they had passed the great gateway (leaving the three-headed Cerberus, barking and yelping, and growling, with threefold din, behind them), and emerged upon the surface of the earth.  It was delightful to behold, as Proserpina hastened along, how the path grew verdant behind and on either side of her.  Wherever she set her blessed foot, there was at once a dewy flower.  The violets gushed up along the wayside.  The grass and the grain began to sprout with tenfold vigor and luxuriance, to make up for the dreary months that had been wasted in barrenness.  The starved cattle immediately set to work grazing, after their long fast, and ate enormously all day, and got up at midnight to eat more.  But I can assure you it was a busy time of year with the farmers, when they found the summer coming upon them with such a rush.  Nor must I forget to say that all the birds in the whole world hopped about upon the newly blossoming trees, and sang together in a prodigious ecstasy of joy.