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 Ceres , he answered her question as civilly as he knew how , and invited her to taste some milk and honey out of a wooden bowl . But neither could Pan tell her what had become of Proserpina , any better than the rest of these wild people . And thus Mother Ceres went wandering about for nine long days and nights , finding no trace of Proserpina , unless it were now and then a withered flower ; and these she picked up and put in her bosom , because she fancied that they might have fallen from her poor child 's hand . All day she traveled onward through the hot sun ; and , at night again , the flame of the torch would redden and gleam along the pathway , and she continued her search by its light , without ever sitting down to rest . On the tenth day , she chanced to espy the mouth of a cavern within which -LRB- though it was bright noon everywhere else -RRB- there would have been only a dusky twilight ; but it so happened that a torch was burning there . It flickered , and struggled with the duskiness , but could not half light up the gloomy cavern with all its melancholy glimmer .
XXXXX was resolved to leave no spot without a search ; so she peeped into the entrance of the cave , and lighted it up a little more , by holding her own torch before her .
Ceres day days fauns goats naiad night nights noon satyrs