When Zeus heard that Persephone had eaten 4 pomegranate seeds in Hades, he enforced the rule of the Fates; the girl could spend 8 months of the year on earth with her mother, but she must return to the Underworld for the remaining part of the year. Persephone sadly started on her journey back to Hades, the leaves began to fall and winter followed. But spring came around again, and the cycle continues to this day.