All night long , at the door of every cottage and farm-house , Ceres knocked , and called up the weary laborers to inquire if they had seen her child ; and they stood , gaping and half-asleep , at the threshold , and answered her pityingly , and besought her to come in and rest . At the portal of every palace , too , she made so loud a summons that the menials hurried to throw open the gate , thinking that it must be some great king or queen , who would demand a banquet for supper and a stately chamber to repose in . And when they saw only a sad and anxious woman , with a torch in her hand and a wreath of withered poppies on her head , they spoke rudely , and sometimes threatened to set the dogs upon her . But nobody had seen Proserpina , nor could give Mother Ceres the least hint which way to seek her . Thus passed the night ; and still she continued her search without sitting down to rest , or stopping to take food , or even remembering to put out the torch although first the rosy dawn , and then the glad light of the morning sun , made its red flame look thin and pale . But I wonder what sort of stuff this torch was made of ; for it burned dimly through the day , and , at night , was as bright as ever , and never was extinguished by the rain or wind , in all the weary days and nights while Ceres was seeking for Proserpina . It was not merely of human beings that she asked tidings of her daughter . In the woods and by the streams , she met creatures of another nature , who used , in those old times , to haunt the pleasant and solitary places , and were very sociable with persons who understood their language and customs , as Mother Ceres did . Sometimes , for instance , she tapped with her finger against the knotted trunk of a majestic oak ; and immediately its rude bark would cleave asunder , and forth would step a beautiful maiden , who was the hamadryad of the oak , dwelling inside of it , and sharing its long life , and rejoicing when its green leaves sported with the breeze . But not one of these leafy damsels had seen Proserpina . Then , going a little farther , Ceres would , perhaps , come to a fountain , gushing out of a pebbly hollow in the earth , and would dabble with her hand in the water . Behold , up through its sandy and pebbly bed , along with the fountain 's gush , a young woman with dripping hair would arise , and stand gazing at Mother Ceres , half out of the water , and undulating up and down with its ever-restless motion . But when the mother asked whether her poor lost child had stopped to drink out of the fountain , the naiad , with weeping eyes -LRB- for these water-nymphs had tears to spare for everybody 's grief -RRB- , would answer `` No ! '' in a murmuring voice , which was just like the murmur of the stream . Often , likewise , she encountered fauns , who looked like sunburnt country people , except that they had hairy ears , and little horns upon their foreheads , and the hinder legs of goats , on which they gamboled merrily about the woods and fields . They were a frolicsome kind of creature but grew as sad as their cheerful dispositions would allow , when Ceres inquired for her daughter , and they had no good news to tell . But sometimes she same suddenly upon a rude gang of satyrs , who had faces like monkeys , and horses ' tails behind them , and who were generally dancing in a very boisterous manner , with shouts of noisy laughter . When she stopped to question them , they would only laugh the louder , and make new merriment out of the lone woman 's distress . How unkind of those ugly satyrs ! And once , while crossing a solitary sheep pasture , she saw a personage named Pan , seated at the foot of a tall rock , and making music on a shepherd 's flute .
He , too , had horns , and hairy ears , and goats ' feet ; but , being acquainted with Mother XXXXX , he answered her question as civilly as he knew how , and invited her to taste some milk and honey out of a wooden bowl .
Ceres damsels days fauns first goats naiad night satyrs water-nymphs