“The Homeric Hymn to Demeter”, which Kulish and Holtzman identify as “the oldest and most complete” (p. 38) version of an ancient myth, begins with a young girl gathering flowers in a meadow: Persephone is the virgin daughter of Zeus (king of gods) and Demeter (goddess of the harvest and fertility). When she plucks a lovely narcissus - planted as a lure - the earth opens up; her uncle Hades emerges and abducts her into his underworld realm. Demeter searches the world for her daughter; posing as an old woman, she arranges to care for the infant son of a mortal family in the city