Nevertheless , it troubled her with a vast many tender fears , such as are ready to bestir themselves in every mother 's heart , when she finds it necessary to go away from her dear children without leaving them under the care of some maiden aunt , or other such faithful guardian . So she quickly left the field in which she had been so busy ; and , as her work was not half done , the grain looked , next day , as if it needed both sun and rain , and as if it were blighted in the ear , and had something the matter with its roots . The pair of dragons must have had very nimble wings ; for , in less than an hour , Mother Ceres had alighted at the door of her home , and found it empty . Knowing , however , that the child was fond of sporting on the sea-shore , she hastened thither as fast as she could , and there beheld the wet faces of the poor sea nymphs peeping over a wave . All this while , the good creatures had been waiting on the bank of sponge , and once , every half minute or so , had popped up their four heads above water , to see if their playmate were yet coming back . When they saw Mother Ceres , they sat down on the crest of the surf wave , and let it toss them ashore at her feet . `` Where is Proserpina ? '' cried Ceres . `` Where is my child ? Tell me , you naughty sea nymphs , have you enticed her under the sea ? '' `` O , no , good Mother Ceres , '' said the innocent sea nymphs , tossing back their green ringlets , and looking her in the face . `` We never should dream of such a thing . Proserpina has been at play with us , it is true ; but she left us a long while ago , meaning only to run a little way upon the dry land , and gather some flowers for a wreath . This was early in the day , and we have seen nothing of her since . '' Ceres scarcely waited to hear what the nymphs had to say , before she hurried off to make inquiries all through the neighborhood . But nobody told her anything that would enable the poor mother to guess what had become of Proserpina . A fisherman , it is true , had noticed her little footprints in the sand , as he went homeward along the beach with a basket of fish ; a rustic had seen the child stooping to gather flowers ; several persons had heard either the rattling of chariot wheels , or the rumbling of distant thunder ; and one old woman , while plucking vervain and catnip , had heard a scream , but supposed it to be some childish nonsense , and therefore did not take the trouble to look up . The stupid people ! It took them such a tedious while to tell the nothing that they knew , that it was dark night before Mother Ceres found out that she must seek her daughter elsewhere . So she lighted a torch , and set forth , resolving never to come back until Proserpina was discovered .
In her haste and trouble of mind , she quite forgot her car and the winged dragons ; or , it may be , she thought XXXXX she could follow up the search more thoroughly on foot .
So along as at before from that through while without