MUSIC:

THEME ... THEN ACCOMPANIES GIRLS--

SYBIL & GWEN:

(SING)
Hello! Hello! Come on, let's go!
It's time for LET'S PRETEND!
The gang's all here, and standing near
Is Uncle Bill your friend!
The story is exciting
From start right to the end!
So everyone come join the fun!
Come on and LET'S PRETEND!

ANNOUNCER:

Yes, from New York City, it's radio's outstanding children's theater, LET'S PRETEND, created by Nila Mack.

SOUND:

CHEERS AND APPLAUSE

ANNOUNCER:

Now, to get us started on today's special Thanksgiving story, "Ceres and Proserpina," here's Uncle Bill Adams.

UNCLE BILL:

Hello, Pretenders!

CHILDREN:

Hello, Uncle Bill!

UNCLE BILL:

Well, did everybody have a good Thanksgiving?

CHILDREN:

You bet!

UNCLE BILL:

Well, now, that's fine. Thanksgiving is America's own holiday, but ever since the beginning of time people have been celebrating the harvest season one way or another. The Greeks and Romans, two thousand years ago, had a wonderful harvest story, and today we're doing it for the first time on LET'S PRETEND. Just one thing before we start. A pomegranate plays a big part in the story. Now, how many of you know what a pomegranate is?

CHILDREN:

[?]

UNCLE BILL:

Uh, Sybil, will you describe that fruit which the Greeks and Romans loved?

SYBIL:

Well, it's round and red, and a little bigger than an apple, Pretenders, but the inside is full of red seeds like big currants, full of juice and very delicious.

UNCLE BILL:

Okay. Now, will everybody know what Proserpina is eating when she eats pomegranate seeds?

CHILDREN:

Yes!

UNCLE BILL:

All right. Then let's take off for LET'S PRETEND. Sybil, you tell us how we travel.

SYBIL:

Let's open all the cages at the zoo and ride on lions and tigers and elephants!

UNCLE BILL:

Hey! We'll be some parade heading back to long-ago Greece. Gwen, will you take charge of the magic?

GWEN:

Okay, Uncle Bill! Magical zookeepers, just for let's pretend, will you open all the cages? One, two, threeeee!

SOUND:

WHIZ BANG! LIONS, TIGERS, AND ELEPHANTS ROAR, GROWL, AND TRUMPET! ... CHILDREN MURMUR EXCITEDLY ... THEN IN BG

GWEN:

Oh, boy! And there we are! Look! Lions, tigers, elephants! Okay, everybody! Grab your favorite animal, hang on tight, and let's go!

SOUND:

LIONS, TIGERS, AND ELEPHANTS ROAR, GROWL, AND TRUMPET AS THEY CARRY THE CHILDREN AWAY

MUSIC:

FOR AN INTRODUCTION

NARRATOR:

This story happened once upon a time before there was ever any winter as we know it now. Mother Ceres, who took care of all green and growing things, saw to it that all year long fruit and grain were ripening, the flowers were blooming on the Earth, and everything was beautiful. Now, Mother Ceres had a little daughter whom she loved very much and her name was Proserpina. One day, Mother Ceres put on the wreath of poppies she always wore, took Proserpina by the hand, and went down to the water's edge.

SOUND:

SHORE BACKGROUND ... LAP OF WATER, ET CETERA

CERES:

Oh, dear! I wish I didn't have to go away and leave you all day today, Proserpina.

PROSERPINA:

Oh, but, Mother Ceres, I'll be all right. Don't you often leave me to take care of the crops? Have I ever gotten into any kind of trouble?

CERES:

No, dear child, no, of course not.

PROSERPINA:

Then why are you worrying so today?

CERES:

I-- Well, I had such a strange and troubled dream last night. I-- Oh, but it's foolish to let that bother me. I'll call your friends, the Sea Nymphs. (CALLS) Sea Nymphs! Oh, Sea Nymphs!

SEA NYMPH:

(OFF) Yes, Mother Ceres? We'll come at once!

SOUND:

SPLASH! OF APPROACHING SEA NYMPHS

PROSERPINA:

(LAUGHS WITH DELIGHT) Oh, here they come! Oh, I love to watch them tumbling and leaping in the waves!

SEA NYMPH:

Greetings, Mother Ceres! Good day, Proserpina!

CERES:

I wish to leave Proserpina in your charge for the day, dear friend. Will you keep her entertained and make sure that she doesn't get into mischief?

SEA NYMPHS:

(MURMUR AGREEMENT BEHIND--)

SEA NYMPH:

Oh, of course we will! There's nothing we'd like better!

CERES:

Thank you! Thank you, all of you! And - and now, Proserpina, be careful, dear. Don't stray far from the water's edge. (MOVING OFF) I'll come back for you here this evening.

MUSIC:

BRIDGE

SOUND:

SHORE BACKGROUND

SEA NYMPH:

(LAUGHS WITH DELIGHT) There, Proserpina -- a beautiful necklace of shells, all for you. Do you like it?

PROSERPINA:

Oh, it's lovely. Now I think I'll make you a necklace. Would you like one made of flowers?

SEA NYMPHS:

(MURMUR AGREEMENT)

SEA NYMPH:

Oh, that would be wonderful!

PROSERPINA:

There's some growing right up there in the meadow. I'll get an armful right now!

SEA NYMPH:

(WORRIED) Up to the meadow? But, Proserpina, your mother said--

PROSERPINA:

Oh, the meadow's not far, Sea Nymph. You can watch me all the time.

SEA NYMPH:

Well--

PROSERPINA:

(MOVING OFF) You watch now and I'll be back in no time!

SEA NYMPH:

(CALLS AFTER HER) Uh, don't go too far, Proserpina!

PROSERPINA:

(OFF) No, I won't!

SOUND:

SHORE BACKGROUND FADES OUT AS MEADOW BACKGROUND FADES IN ... BIRDS CHIRP, ET CETERA ... PROSERPINA'S STEPS IN AGREEMENT WITH FOLLOWING--

PROSERPINA:

Oh! There are some lovely yellow flowers! And then I'll pick some of those blue ones and-- (GASPS WITH DELIGHT) Oh! Those red ones over there. Well, I never saw any like these in my life.

SEA NYMPH:

(CALLS, FROM OFF) Proserpina! Come back!

PROSERPINA:

(CALLS) Just a little farther, Sea Nymph! (BIG GASP, TO HERSELF) Oh! Those roses! I must have some for the necklace. There we are. This one and-- (GRUNTS) What's the matter? Why won't the stem break? (EXHALES WITH EFFORT) Break, you stem! All right, then. I'll pull! (GRUNTS WITH EFFORT, THEN GASPS AS--)

SOUND:

RUMBLE!

PROSERPINA:

(STARTLED EXCLAMATION) Is - is that thunder on such a sunny day? What - what's happening to the bush?

SOUND:

THUNDEROUS CRASH! OF THE EARTH OPENING UP

PROSERPINA:

(STARTLED EXCLAMATION) The bush just disappeared into a great hole in the Earth!

SOUND:

APPROACHING OMINOUS RUMBLE OF HORSE-DRAWN CHARIOT

PROSERPINA:

Oh oh! What is it? Wha - what's coming? (REALIZES) Black horses! And a sleek black chariot! Right out of the Earth!

PLUTO:

(OFF, TO HORSES) Whoa! Whoa, there!

SOUND:

CHARIOT PULLS TO A STOP

PLUTO:

Well, little one -- at last I greet you.

PROSERPINA:

(GASPS) Who - who are you?

PLUTO:

My name is Pluto, little one.

PROSERPINA:

(GASPS) Pluto? King of the underworld?

PLUTO:

Yes, but there's no need to be frightened, Proserpina. I've only come to hear you laugh.

PROSERPINA:

To hear me laugh?

PLUTO:

I know it sounds strange to you. But you can't imagine what it is to live from one year's end to another and never hear laughter.

PROSERPINA:

Never hear laughter? How can that be?

PLUTO:

Well, the souls who dwell in the underworld do not laugh, Proserpina. Sometimes I walk from room to room in my vast palace and realize that never since the beginning of time has anyone laughed there.

PROSERPINA:

Oh, I can't believe it. I can't imagine such a place.

PLUTO:

Would you like to see it for yourself, Proserpina? Come. Pay me a little visit right now.

PROSERPINA:

A visit? Oh, no, no -- I couldn't!

PLUTO:

We could be there in no time in my chariot. I can bring you back just as quickly. And it would make me very happy, Proserpina. I would remember your visit for years. The palace would be a happier place forever.

PROSERPINA:

Really?

PLUTO:

Come now. Your hand. (WITH EFFORT) That's right! And up we go into the chariot!

SOUND:

PROSERPINA LIFTED INTO CHARIOT

PROSERPINA:

Oh, dear! I really shouldn't, I guess, but I can't imagine a place where nobody has ever laughed.

PLUTO:

Well, don't worry for a minute, Proserpina. (TO HORSES) Gid up, Eyerock! Up, Thunder! Up and away! To the underworld!

SOUND:

DURING ABOVE, HORSE-DRAWN CHARIOT GALLOPS AWAY ... UP AND OUT WITH--

MUSIC:

BRIDGE ... FOR A TRIP TO THE UNDERWORLD

SOUND:

TROTTING HORSE-DRAWN CHARIOT ... IN BG

PROSERPINA:

Oh, it is very gloomy down here. I can see why no one laughs. Are we almost at your palace, King Pluto?

PLUTO:

Yes, we're almost there.

CERBERUS:

(FROM OFF, MAD BARKING, THEN IN BG)

PLUTO:

And hark! There's Cerberus.

PROSERPINA:

Oh, what a monster! How awful!

PLUTO:

(TO HORSES) Whoa! Whoa, there!

SOUND:

CHARIOT STOPS

PLUTO:

All right! All right, quiet, Cerberus.

CERBERUS:

(BARKING STOPS BEHIND--)

PROSERPINA:

(HORRIFIED) Terrible! He's terrible! Three - three heads! And - and each fiercer than the other!

PLUTO:

Please, Proserpina. Don't be frightened. He never harms anyone, unless they try to enter my palace unbidden--

CERBERUS:

(BARKS BRIEFLY)

PLUTO:

--or leave against my will. Now, come -- let me take you into the palace.

SOUND:

SCENE FADES OUT ... TRANSITIONAL PAUSE

PROSERPINA:

(LAUGHS WITH DELIGHT)

PLUTO:

That's right, Proserpina. It makes you laugh to play ball with diamonds, doesn't it?

PROSERPINA:

Yes, it is very strange. But now, King Pluto, it's time for me--

PLUTO:

No, no! Wait. Let me get you some rubies to play with.

PROSERPINA:

Oh, thank you just the same, but I don't want to play with any more jewels now. I - I want to go home, if you please.

PLUTO:

No, no, you mustn't! You must stay. I can't bear to have you go.

PROSERPINA:

(ALMOST TEARFUL) King Pluto, you promised! Take me home to my mother now! Right now!

PLUTO:

(GETS AN IDEA) I know! If you eat, then you won't be in such a hurry. I'll command the cook to prepare a real feast -- all the dainties you can imagine. Here, play with these rubies, Proserpina-- (MOVING OFF) --and I'll be back in just a moment.

PROSERPINA:

No, no, no! Come back! I - I don't want anything to eat! I want to go home! I want my mother! (SOBS, THEN TEARFUL, TO HERSELF) Oh, mother, I - I did wrong to come with him, and I'm sorry, so sorry. But how am I ever going to get back to you?! (WEEPS)

MUSIC:

BRIDGE

SOUND:

SHORE BACKGROUND

CERES:

What are you saying, Sea Nymphs? Proserpina just vanished over the top of the hill and didn't return?

SEA NYMPHS:

(MURMUR AGREEMENT)

SEA NYMPH:

That's right, Mother Ceres. We've been watching and waiting all afternoon, Mother Ceres, and - and getting more and more worried.

CERES:

But it's not like Proserpina to wander away. She would have come back unless something happened. (MOVING OFF) I must search for her! (CALLS) Proserpina! Proserpina, where are you, darling?! Proserpina!

MUSIC:

BRIDGE ... THEN IN BG

CERES:

Demetrius? Demetrius, have you seen Proserpina today?

DEMETRIUS:

Oh, I'm sorry, Mother Ceres, I haven't seen her today at all.

CERES:

Oh, dear! Oh, dear! (CALLS) Proserpina! Proserpina!

MUSIC:

ACCENT ... THEN IN BG

CERES:

Domina? Domina, have you seen my little girl anywhere?

DOMINA:

No. But please don't look so worried, Mother Ceres. Why, your wreath of poppies has wilted. (GASPS) And look! The flowers along the road here are drooping and wilting. Mother Ceres--?

CERES:

No, no, don't bother me about them now. I can't do anything about flowers or anything till I find Proserpina. (CALLS) Proserpina! (TEARFUL) Oh, darling, where are you? Why don't you answer me? (WEEPS)

MUSIC:

BRIDGE

SOUND:

CERES' TRUDGING FOOTSTEPS

CERES:

(SIGHS, WEARY) A week. A whole week I've been searching and asking. (SIGHS, REALIZES) Hecate! There's her cave right over there.

SOUND:

CERES' FOOTSTEPS TO CAVE

CERES:

Oh, hopeless, I know: she never, never notices anything but her own misery. Still-- (CALLS) Hecate?!

HECATE:

(OFF, SLIGHT ECHO) Eh?

CERES:

It's Mother Ceres! Come out of your cave for a moment!

HECATE:

(OFF, SLIGHT ECHO) Oh, you know I can't come out into the light, Ceres. I'm too miserable to stand the sunshine. Oh, my -- the world is full of troubles!

CERES:

(EXPLODES) Indeed it is! And at this moment, I am more miserable and unhappy than you ever dreamed of being, Hecate! So please--!

HECATE:

(EMERGES FROM CAVE, PLEASED) Miserable, Mother Ceres? Really? Well, what on earth has--? (SURPRISED) Good heavens. Well, what's happened to all the grass? It - it's turned brown and - and dry. And the leaves--!

CERES:

(APOLOGETIC) Yes, yes, everything is dying. I - I haven't time.

HECATE:

Oh, my.

CERES:

It's about Proserpina, my little daughter. She's lost; vanished. Hecate, have you heard anything -- seen anything -- that might give me a clue?

HECATE:

(PLEASED) Well, now, this is a dreadful thing. (CHUCKLES) Oh, wait, wait. Now you remind me of it, a week ago-- Yes, a week ago, it was.

CERES:

A week ago? Tell me, Hecate. What?

HECATE:

I - I heard a great chariot rumbling past my cave. And when I looked out, it seemed I saw a little girl beside the driver.

CERES:

(EAGERLY) Hecate, what kind of a chariot? I must know. You must have noticed.

HECATE:

Oh, a big black thing it was. Black as though it came from the underworld itself.

CERES:

The underworld?

HECATE:

(WITH DELIGHT) My, oh, my -- isn't that dreadful? I suppose it was Pluto himself who carried her off!

CERES:

Hecate!

HECATE:

(HAPPY) If it was he, you know, you have every right to be miserable -- you'll never get her back!

CERES:

(TEARFUL) Stop it! Stop it, Hecate! I am Mother Ceres! I have powers and magics of my own, you know!

HECATE:

Oh, none of that will do you any good if she eats anything while she's in the underworld. Ceres, you know as well as I do, if anybody eats anything in the underworld, they're bound to stay there forever! They can't come back to this world ever again.

CERES:

Yes, but we don't know it was Pluto who carried her off. Who would know for sure? (REALIZES) Phoebus! Phoebus, the sun god! Why didn't I think of him before? I must go to him at once!

HECATE:

You know, I - I just think I'll come along. Yes, since you've already forced me out into the light as you have, I might as well--

CERES:

Very well, but make haste! (TO HERSELF) And, oh, Proserpina my darling, if it is Pluto who has carried you off, don't eat anything. Please -- don't eat anything.

MUSIC:

BRIDGE ... THEN BEHIND NARRATOR--

NARRATOR:

Now down in Pluto's rich dark castle, Proserpina -- who knows nothing of this magic -- looks at a loaded tray in front of her.

PLUTO:

Come now, Proserpina -- a bite of this delicious cake. The cook made it especially for you and filled it with nuts and sweetmeats. A little bite, child.

PROSERPINA:

I-- No, thank you, really, King Pluto. (EXHALES) It's very curious. It does seem as though I should feel weak and faint from hunger, but I don't.

PLUTO:

Yes, it's true, there is a certain magic in the air down here, so food is not absolutely required. But I'm sure you'd feel better and happier if you ate, Proserpina. Please -- I do so want you to laugh. Come! Some of this candy--

PROSERPINA:

No, no! Please, no!

PLUTO:

But what's wrong? I thought little girls loved cake and candy and sweetmeats.

PROSERPINA:

(SIGHS) Oh, dear. When I was home, I used to wish for them sometimes, but now-- (SOBS) Now I'm away and all I can think of is the things my mother used to give me: fresh fruit and good crisp green things. (WEEPS, IN BG)

PLUTO:

Oh, Proserpina, don't cry. Please, I-- (REALIZES) Good heavens, what's wrong with me? Proserpina, stop crying. I shall send a messenger up to Earth at once to bring back baskets of the finest fruit for you! Then I know you'll eat and laugh and be happy again!

PROSERPINA:

(TEARFUL) I won't ever be happy again till you take me back to my mother!

PLUTO:

Yes, yes, you will! Just wait till you see these apples, peaches, and pears my messenger will bring back for you! Just wait, my dear!

MUSIC:

BRIDGE ... THEN BEHIND NARRATOR--

NARRATOR:

Meanwhile, up on Earth, Mother Ceres, along with the dismal and lamenting Hecate, has arrived at the sunniest spot on Earth. And in the center of the glow sits the golden-haired Phoebus, strumming his lyre.

MUSIC:

LYRE STRUMMED ... THEN IN BG, OUT AT [X]

CERES:

Hecate, there he is, just ahead! There's Phoebus!

HECATE:

Oh, this light! It's awful! Truly, if you weren't so unhappy, Ceres, I couldn't bear it.

CERES:

Oh, please Hecate! I'm hoping Phoebus can help me. (CALLS) Phoebus?! [X]

PHOEBUS:

(OFF) Mother Ceres! (CLOSER) Oh, the very woman I want to see!

CERES:

You wanted to see me? (HOPEFUL) Oh, you have news?!

PHOEBUS:

Well, everywhere I travel with the sun, I - I see the Earth all parched and brown. What's wrong, Mother Ceres?

HECATE:

(EAGERLY) Oh, well may you ask, Phoebus! I--

CERES:

Phoebus, I've lost my daughter -- my little Proserpina. I came to ask if you had seen her being borne away perhaps in a great black chariot.

PHOEBUS:

A great black chariot? Well, some days ago, I saw Pluto riding for the entrance to the underworld. And now that I remember, he did have a child with him.

CERES:

(GASPS) A little girl?

PHOEBUS:

Yes! (REALIZES) Oh, and she was your daughter, Mother Ceres? So this is why you neglect the crops!

CERES:

Now I know. Oh, I must leave for the underworld at once.

PHOEBUS:

No, wait! Wait. This is a job for the gods' own messenger, Mercury! He can enter anywhere -- even pass Cerberus, Pluto's watchdog.

CERES:

Will he undertake the mission, Phoebus? Can he leave at once? Oh, there isn't a moment to lose!

PHOEBUS:

There certainly isn't. Why, there'll be nothing to eat at all next year if you, Mother Ceres, don't get back to work.

CERES:

It's not that. It's Proserpina. If she eats food in the underworld, even Mercury can't bring her back to me. Please, Phoebus -- send for Mercury at once!

MUSIC:

BRIDGE

PLUTO:

Alas, Proserpina, my messenger scoured the Earth for fresh fruit or green things, but something terrible has happened there. Everything is withered and dead.

PROSERPINA:

Oh, but that's impossible. Mother never lets anything die.

PLUTO:

She has now. My messenger went everywhere.

PROSERPINA:

(REALIZES) She's grieving for me, that's what! Let me go back, King Pluto!

PLUTO:

No! No, wait. My messenger did find this.

PROSERPINA:

(SURPRISED) Why--! A little pomegranate.

PLUTO:

Try it, Proserpina. Here, I'll - I'll break it open for you.

SOUND:

POMEGRANATE BROKEN OPEN

PLUTO:

There. The seeds are still juicy. Won't you please--?

CERBERUS:

(OFF, BARKS MADLY, THEN BEHIND PLUTO--)

PLUTO:

(STARTLED) What? Good heavens, what's wrong with Cerberus? Is someone trying to enter the palace? (MOVING OFF) Excuse me, Proserpina. I must go see what's wrong!

SOUND:

PLUTO'S STEPS AWAY

PROSERPINA:

(MUSES, TO HERSELF) Truly, it is a withered little pomegranate, but-- (SIGHS) Oh, it reminds me of home, and sunshine, and mother. I think I'll eat just one seed, or two, or--

SOUND:

WHIZ BANG! ... FOR MERCURY'S ARRIVAL

PROSERPINA:

(STARTLED) What's that?!

MERCURY:

Ah! So here you are, Proserpina.

PROSERPINA:

Mercury!

SOUND:

PLUTO'S STEPS APPROACH BEHIND--

MERCURY:

Yes, it's I -- Mercury, my dear. I've come for you.

PROSERPINA:

Oh, to take me home?! Oh, will you let me go, King Pluto? Please! Please!

MERCURY:

I remind you, Pluto, the gods are angry.

PLUTO:

(ASHAMED, SLOWLY) Yes. Yes, I know. And mortals everywhere are starving. I was wrong to keep you here as I did, Proserpina. I thought only of myself, my own loneliness. I refused to think of your mother.

MERCURY:

Al right, Proserpina. Take my hand. In one minute, I'll whisk you back to Earth and good Mother Ceres.

PROSERPINA:

Goodbye, King Pluto. Goodbye!

SOUND:

WHIZ BANG! ... FOR MERCURY AND PROSERPINA'S DEPARTURE

MUSIC:

BRIDGE ... FOR A TRIP BACK TO EARTH

HECATE:

(WITH RELISH) Oh, my, my, Ceres -- I'm just sitting here thinking how it will be with the Earth all brown and dead like this forever! How long will it be before everybody starves to death, do you suppose?

CERES:

Oh, Hecate, please! I can't bear to see everything dead like this, but-- Hecate? Look!

HECATE:

What?

CERES:

Those trees along the horizon!

HECATE:

Well, what about them? (GASPS)

CERES:

Why, they're suddenly covered with green! And look! A path of color is spreading across the fields!

HECATE:

(DISAPPOINTED) Oh, dear!

CERES:

Flowers! Flowers are springing up!

SOUND:

WHIZ BANG! ... FOR MERCURY AND PROSERPINA'S ARRIVAL

PROSERPINA:

Mother!

CERES:

Proserpina! Oh! (WARM EMBRACE) Darling--

MERCURY:

Yes, I've brought her back to you, Mother Ceres.

PROSERPINA:

Oh, mother! Mother, I'm so happy!

CERES:

And I! You see, Hecate? I was right to hope.

HECATE:

Well-- Heh! I must say, I am surprised. (HOPEFUL) You didn't eat anything down there, Proserpina?

CERES:

Of course she didn't! Did you, my darling? Oh, if she had, she wouldn't be here!

PROSERPINA:

No, truly, I didn't eat anything. Except--

CERES:

Except--? What do you mean, Proserpina?

PROSERPINA:

Oh, mother -- just before Mercury came, King Pluto had brought me a pomegranate. I - I ate some of the seeds.

HECATE:

Aha!

MERCURY:

Oh, but I never knew. Pluto must not have known, either.

CERES:

(WORRIED) But he will find out. He knows now, I've no doubt. Oh, Proserpina, how many seeds did you eat?

PROSERPINA:

How many? Er, six, I think, mother. Was - was that wrong?

CERES:

My darling, you couldn't know, of course, but-- Six seeds!

HECATE:

(PLEASED) I knew it! I knew there'd be something! Six seeds -- that's, uh-- That's six months!

PROSERPINA:

Mother? What does she mean? What's wrong? Tell me!

CERES:

Alas, dear child. For each of those seeds you ate in Pluto's kingdom, you will have to spend a month there each year. You're restored to me, darling, but only for half of every year. Six months from now, you'll have to return to Pluto's kingdom.

HECATE:

(DELIGHTED) Oh, me! Isn't it awful?! Isn't it terrible?!

MERCURY:

I'm sorry, Mother Ceres. I went as fast as I could.

CERES:

And just when my heart was so full of rejoicing -- when I was ready to make everything on Earth bloom and flourish--

PROSERPINA:

Mother? Mother, please, keep on rejoicing. And - and don't feel too badly if I must go away for part of the year. King Pluto is not cruel -- only lonely. I - I can bear to visit him each year if I know, always, I'll be coming back to you.

CERES:

Oh, my dear child, that is the way I must think of it now, I know. I must make everything grow and blossom twice as richly now, so that when you go-- (SOBS) When you go--

MERCURY:

(COMFORTING) When she goes, Mother Ceres, we will not grieve. We'll have a feast on summer's riches -- because she will return again.

PROSERPINA:

That's right, mother. I'll come back always. So don't be sad any more.

HECATE:

(UNHAPPY) Don't be sad, she says! (GROANS)

CERES:

(BRIGHTENS) But she's right, Hecate! It is wrong to be sad when my darling is back in my arms! Let us all be thankful now that she will always return to them! (WARMLY) Welcome home, Proserpina dear.

MUSIC:

CURTAIN ... ENDS BY QUOTING THE LET'S PRETEND THEME

SOUND:

CHEERS AND APPLAUSE

UNCLE BILL:

And that's the old Greek and Roman legend of the mother of the harvest, and her daughter whose departure and return makes the seasons of the year.

The Pretenders for today were:

Mother Ceres--

CERES:

Amy Sidell.

UNCLE BILL:

Proserpina--

PROSERPINA:

Patsy O'Shea.

UNCLE BILL:

The Sea Nymph--

SEA NYMPH:

Gwen Davies.

UNCLE BILL:

Pluto--

PLUTO:

Michael O'Day.

UNCLE BILL:

Hecate--

HECATE:

Miriam Wolfe.

UNCLE BILL:

Phoebus--

PHOEBUS:

Donald Madden.

UNCLE BILL:

Mercury--

MERCURY:

Robert Morea.

UNCLE BILL:

And, of course, our own--

SYBIL TRENT:

Sybil Trent.

UNCLE BILL:

The original music was composed and conducted by Maurice Brown. LET'S PRETEND is directed by Jean Hight, and this story of "Ceres and Proserpina" was especially written for today's production by Johanna Johnstone. LET'S PRETEND comes to you from New York, so come and visit a broadcast if you live nearby. You can get free tickets by writing to CBS Radio, New York City. And be sure to be listening next week when we bring you the exciting story of a shrewd and clever cat, Puss in Boots himself. See ya then.

MUSIC:

THEME ... THEN IN BG, UNTIL THE END

UNCLE BILL:

And now here's Jim Campbell.

ANNOUNCER:

Yes, Pretenders, now that the Thanksgiving season is almost over and everybody's beginning to think about Christmas, here's a reminder for you to pass on to your families. Many children -- and grown-ups, too -- in lands that were devastated by the war, face a very miserable Christmas indeed, unless some good Americans play Santa Claus for them. Remember your parents -- and remind them that one of the finest ways to do that is by sending CARE packages to people overseas.

The fabulous QUIZ KIDS are heard Sundays on the CBS Radio Network.