The New Student's Reference Work/Proserpina

Proserpina (prṓ-sẽr′ pĭ-nȧ), daughter of Zeus and Demeter.  While gathering flowers on the plains of Sicily, she was abducted by Pluto and taken to his abode in the underworld, where she was found by her mother after a nine-years’ search, and given up by Pluto only on condition that she live underground for part of the year.  The myth clearly is an expression of the revival of nature every year, after winter is over.