Persephone's efforts to stave off Hades's advances while she was in her present condition had thus far proven fruitless. She could see that her lot was not going to be an easy one. She had no one to whom she could turn to for advice and sympathy.

Then one of her handmaidens arrived with a message from the dark goddess.

"Hades has sent for you, my lady," the nymph said to her with a bow. "She said you have stayed in your chamber far too long. At the court, she has no government business to attend to and wishes to divert your mind to some leisure time."

Persephone was mystified...