Chapter 6: The Great Famine

Wasting her strength on the yearning for her deep-bosomed daughter, Demeter paid no heed to the earth. The lands turned bare for she ceased to tend it - fruit withered on the vine, plenteous fields grew fallow, and the pleasant winds ceased to blow. The lands grew cold and barren. The goddess accused the whole wide world as ungrateful, not deserving of her gift of grains.

She knew not how to reach her girl Persephone, who had been abducted by the goddess of the dead. She put on a black cloak of mourning and sealed herself up in a cave for a long time.

While Zeus was napping in his chamber, a great wind began to blow with a sound like waves crashing ferociously on a rocky shore. He found his sleep being disturbed by wailing of lamentation. He arose and peered down upon the earth. What he saw was that of a grievous sight of the world. N