Inanna was a goddess. One day, she heard her sister, the queen of the underworld, crying. Her husband had died.

"I must go to my sister's husband's funeral," Inanna told her servant. "If I do not return in three days, ask the gods for help."
When Inanna arrived at the outer gates of the underworld, the gatekeeper ran to tell the queen about the goddess. The queen hated her sister, so she told him: "Open the seven gates, but as my sister enters each gate, take away one of her royal garments."

When the gatekeeper opened the first gate, he grabbed the crown from Inanna's head. It was the same at the other gates. At each one, the gatekeeper took away another piece of Inanna's jewelry, and at the seventh gate the gatekeeper removed her royal robes.

Naked, Inanna entered the underworld and walked into her sister's throne room. Inanna looked at her sister, and saw the eye of death staring back.

"Sister," the queen said, and struck Inanna dead.

Three days later, Inanna's servant went to ask the gods for help. First she went to the God of the Air, but he could do nothing.

Then she ran to the God of the Moon, but he shook his head.

At last she visited Enki, the God of Wisdom. From beneath his fingernails, Enki took some dirt. With this he created two flies. "Go to the underworld and give this to Inanna," he instructed the insects, giving them a bottle filled with the food of life.

The flies slipped through the seven gates of the underworld. When they reached the throne room, they heard the queen crying. The flies echoed her words with compassion, and compassion was what the queen craved most.

In gratitude, she offered them any gift they desired.

"Give us Inanna's body," the flies said.

The queen gave them Inanna's body, and they fed the goddess the food of life. Inanna rose again, and returned to heaven and Earth.

Now, Inanna spends six months of every year in the underworld, and when she returns to Earth, spring comes with her.