his chariot, and carry them away."

One day, during her pilgrimage in quest of the entrance to Pluto's
kingdom, she came to the palace of King Celeus, who reigned at Eleusis.
Ascending a lofty flight of steps, she entered the portal, and found the
royal household in very great alarm about the queen's baby. The infant, it
seems, was sickly (being troubled with its teeth, I suppose), and would
take no food, and was all the time moaning with pain. The queen--her name
was Metanira--was desirous of finding a nurse; and when she beheld a woman
of matronly aspect coming up the palace steps, she thought, in her own
mind that here was the very person whom she needed. So Queen Metanira ran
to the door, with the poor wailing baby in her arms, and besought Ceres to
take charge of it, or, at least, to tell her what would do it good."

"Will you trust the child entirely to me?" asked Ceres.

"Yes, and gladly too," answered the queen, "if you will devote all your
time to him. For I can see that you have been a mother."

"You are right," said Ceres. "I once had a child of my own. Well, I will
be the nurse of this poor, sickly boy. But beware, I warn you, that you do
not interfere with any kind of treatment which I may judge proper for him.
If you do so, the poor infant must suffer for his mother's folly."

Then she kissed the child, and it seemed to do him good, for he smiled and
nestled closely into her bosom.

So Mother Ceres set her torch in a corner (where it kept burning all the
while), and took up her abode in the palace of King Celeus, as nurse to
the little Prince Demophoeon. She treated him as if he were her own child,
and allowed neither the king nor the queen to say whether he should be
bathed in warm or cold water, or what he should eat, or how often he
should take the air, or when he should be put to bed. You would hardly
believe me, if I were to tell how quickly the baby prince got rid of his
ailments, and grew fat, and rosy, and strong, and how he had two rows of
ivory teeth in less time than any other little fellow, before or since.
Instead of the palest, and wretchedest, and puniest imp in the world (as
his own mother confessed him to be when Ceres first took him in charge),
he was now a strapping baby, crowing, laughing, kicking up his heels, and
rolling from one end of the room to the other. All the good women of the
neighborhood crowded to the palace, and held up their hands, in
unutterable amazement, at the bea