`` Well , I have not deserved it of you , after keeping you a prisoner for so many months , and starving you besides . Are you not terribly hungry ? Is there nothing which I can get you to eat ? '' In asking this question , the king of the mines had a very cunning purpose ; for , you will recollect , if Proserpina tasted a morsel of food in his dominions , she would never afterwards be at liberty to quit them . `` No indeed , '' said Proserpina . `` Your head cook is always baking , and stewing , and roasting , and rolling out paste , and contriving one dish or another , which he imagines may be to my liking . But he might just as well save himself the trouble , poor , fat little man that he is . I have no appetite for anything in the world , unless it were a slice of bread , of my mother 's own baking , or a little fruit out of her garden . '' When Pluto heard this , he began to see that he had mistaken the best method of tempting Proserpina to eat . The cook 's made dishes and artificial dainties were not half so delicious , in the good child 's opinion , as the simple fare to which Mother Ceres had accustomed her . Wondering that he had never thought of it before , the king now sent one of his trusty attendants with a large basket , to get some of the finest and juiciest pears , peaches , and plums which could anywhere be found in the upper world . Unfortunately , however , this was during the time when Ceres had forbidden any fruits or vegetables to grow ; and , after seeking all over the earth , King Pluto 's servant found only a single pomegranate , and that so dried up as not to be worth eating . Nevertheless , since there was no better to be had , he brought this dry , old withered pomegranate home to the palace , put it on a magnificent golden salver , and carried it up to Proserpina . Now , it happened , curiously enough , that , just as the servant was bringing the pomegranate into the back door of the palace , our friend Quicksilver had gone up the front steps , on his errand to get Proserpina away from King Pluto . As soon as Proserpina saw the pomegranate on the golden salver , she told the servant he had better take it away again . `` I shall not touch it , I assure you , '' said she . `` If I were ever so hungry , I should never think of eating such a miserable , dry pomegranate as that . '' `` It is the only one in the world , '' said the servant . He set down the golden salver , with the wizened pomegranate upon it , and left the room . When he was gone , Proserpina could not help coming close to the table , and looking at this poor specimen of dried fruit with a great deal of eagerness ; for , to say the truth , on seeing something that suited her taste , she felt all the six months ' appetite taking possession of her at once .
To be sure , it was a very wretched-looking pomegranate , and seemed XXXXX have no more juice in it than an oyster shell .
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