奧林帕斯諸神之中，地位最超然嗰三位，分別係天帝宙斯、海之主波塞頓、冥王黑帝斯。
Of the gods of Olympus, three stood above the rest: Zeus, lord of the sky; Poseidon, lord of the sea; Hades, lord of the dead.
其他神祇亦各有司職。女神狄蜜特負責萬物生長；恩澤大地，無分四時、五穀豐饒。
The others each had a job. Demeter's was growth. Under her the earth was green all year round, and the grain never failed.
狄蜜特亦象徵慈愛、母性；愛人類，更愛女兒波瑟芬妮。
Demeter was also the goddess of mothers. She loved mankind, and loved her daughter Persephone more.
有日波瑟芬妮同班閨蜜出遊，去到河邊採花嬉戲，回眸一笑百媚生。
One day Persephone went out with her friends to pick flowers by a river. She walked in beauty, like the night.
黑帝斯剛巧巡經，一眼入定。
Hades happened to be passing. One look, and that was that.
「帶走。」隨住佢一聲令下，波瑟芬妮落入冥界。
"Take her." Two words, and Persephone was gone below.
寶貝女失蹤，狄蜜特四處打聽。一眾山河仙妖雖然目擊事件，但怕得罪冥王，個個守口如瓶。
Her daughter missing, Demeter asked everywhere. The spirits of the hills and rivers had all seen it. None of them wanted trouble with the King of the Dead. Not one spoke.
「本尊在前，居然無一敢言？」狄蜜特自然明白，事件涉及最頂層勢力，無處申訴。
"Before me, and not one of you dares speak?" Demeter understood well enough. This went to the very top. There was nowhere to appeal.
女神心如死灰。從此大地失去恩澤，種子唔再發芽。
Her heart went to ash. The earth lost its blessing, and the seed stopped sprouting.
五穀不生，人畜無糧，亦無法向奧林帕斯獻祭。
No grain. Nothing for people or beasts to eat, and nothing to offer Olympus.
眾神收唔到貢品，各部門資源短缺，牽連愈來愈廣。
The gods stopped receiving their offerings. Every department ran short.
黑帝斯無出聲。
Hades said nothing.
波塞頓同班手下劃海而治，自成一國；加上食慣魚生，五穀收成與之無關。一於懶理。
Poseidon and his lot ran the sea as their own country. They lived on raw fish anyway, so the harvest was no concern of theirs. They stayed out of it.
成班友，只能上表宙斯。
So the rest of them wrote to Zeus.
「高處不勝寒啊……」宙斯望住份奏摺，苦惱。
"Uneasy lies the head…" Zeus looked at the petition and sighed.
佢其實早已試過安慰狄蜜特，勸佢睇開啲。狄蜜特斷言：「女兒不在，顆粒不長。」
He had already tried consoling Demeter, telling her to look on the bright side. Her answer was final: "No daughter, no grain."
無晒符，又唔願去同黑帝斯講數，宙斯唯有派阿仔「信使神」赫密斯行一轉。
Out of ideas, and in no mood to haggle with Hades himself, Zeus sent his son Hermes, the messenger, to go down and have a word.
「喂老竇，冥王份人陰陰沉沉咁，好難捉摸……」赫密斯無奈。
"Dad, the man's a closed book. You never know what he's thinking…" Hermes was not keen.
「我梗係知啦！但你跑得快吖嘛。有咩事，甩到身嘅！」
"Don't I know it. But you're the fast one. If it goes wrong, you can outrun him."
「屌……」天命難違，赫密斯唯有頂硬上。
"Fuck…" There is no arguing with the sky. Hermes went.
轉念間，佢就嚟到冥王座前，費盡唇舌嘗試說之以理，不斷講、不斷講，講咗好耐好耐。
In the blink of an eye he was before the throne of the dead. He reasoned. He pleaded. He talked and talked, for a very long time.
黑帝斯始終不發一言。
Hades did not say a word.
波瑟芬妮坐喺旁邊聽。眾神之苦處，女神無心裝載。
Persephone sat beside him and listened. The troubles of the gods did not much interest her.
但聞母親失魂落魄，人間世受苦受難，佢不禁聲淚俱下：「人間即煉獄。近月來到地府的，全是餓死鬼，瘦骨嶙峋。主上面冷心不冷，明明也不忍見。這是何必？」
Then she heard of her mother, out of her mind with grief, and of the world of men, starving. She wept. "The earth is hell now. Everyone who has come down to us these past months starved. Skin and bone. My lord's face is cold, but his heart is not. You cannot bear to see it either. What is this for?"
「寡人，不捨。」黑帝斯道。
"We," said Hades, "cannot bear to let you go."
波瑟芬妮一把抓起王座旁的石榴籽吞下，道：「吞下石榴籽為證，妾身就是地府的人。我必回來。」
Persephone snatched up a pomegranate seed from beside the throne and swallowed it. "Let the seed be my witness. Your wife belongs to the house of the dead. I will come back."
這是冥王第一次感到安心。
It was the first time the King of the Dead had felt at ease.
大地昏暗。狄蜜特披頭散髮，頹坐田野。
The earth was dark. Demeter sat slumped in a field, her hair undone.
一陣暖風，吹起她額前瀏海。
A warm wind lifted the hair from her forehead.
熟悉身影，映入眼簾。
A figure she knew.
母女重逢，相擁。
Mother and daughter. They held each other.
春來，花開。每年這個時候，波瑟芬妮重回大地。
Spring. The flowers open. This is when, every year, Persephone comes back up.
夏至，禾長。她倆總有說不完的話。
Summer. The corn grows tall. Mother and daughter never run out of things to say.
秋愁，葉落。又是道別時。
Autumn. The leaves fall. Time to say goodbye again.
冬天，她必定兌現承諾，陪在黑帝斯身邊，分享人間見聞。
Winter. She keeps her word, sits beside Hades, and tells him what she saw up there.
冥王依然不擅言詞。接待死者責任，波瑟芬妮主動孭起。
The King of the Dead is still no talker. Receiving the dead is a job Persephone took on herself.
每年梗有三幾個月，地府特別熱鬧，有連串慶典賀王后歸來。
For three or four months a year the underworld is lively: one feast after another, to welcome the Queen home.
每年梗有三幾個月，阿女唔喺身邊，大地沉寂一排。
For three or four months a year the daughter is away, and the earth goes quiet.
人類好快亦習慣新規律，稱之為四季。歲末農閒，無事可幹，趁機聚埋一齊，學地府搞派對；又同狄蜜特一樣，期待花再開。
People soon got used to the new pattern, and called it the seasons. At the end of the year there is nothing to do in the fields, so they gather, and throw parties the way the dead do; and wait, as Demeter waits, for the flowers to come back.