One mild spring day, long, long ago in those distant years when history fades into myth, a lone cloud sailed its stately course across the sky. Upon it sat a beautiful maiden. Her name was Nephele and she was a nymph of the heavens. Travelling on high she could admire the enchanting scene which spread itself beneath her. She gazed down on the wooded mountains and the green meadows, the lakes and the rivers, the islands and the lacy pattern of the coastline, and marvelled at all that beauty which the gods had showered so richly on the corner of the world which they called Greece.
Then, as she soared above the earth, Nephele caught sight of a city far below. Its name was Orchomenus and it was built on a rocky outcrop above the great lake of Copais. A large and beautiful building, no doubt the royal palace, stood proudly at the highest point. Impressed by its grandeur and its marble columns, the lovely nymph flew down lower to examine it more closely. The nearer she drew, the more impressed she became, until finally, unable to restrain her curiosity, she stepped lightly from the cloud and set foot on the great terrace of the palace. [...]

[Απόσπασμα από κείμενο του εκδότη]