THE MEETING BETWEEN NAUSICAA AND ULYSSES.
So here Ulysses slept, overcome by sleep and toil; but Minerva off to the country and city of the Phaeacians—a people who used to live in the town of Hypereia, near the Cyclopes. Now the Cyclopes were than they and them, so their king Nausithous moved them and settled them in Scheria, from all other people. He the city with a wall, houses and temples, and the lands among his people; but he was and gone to the house of Hades, and King Alcinous, were of heaven, was now reigning. To his house, then, did Minerva in of the return of Ulysses.
She to the in which there slept a girl who was as as a goddess, Nausicaa, to King Alcinous. Two were sleeping near her, very pretty, one on either of the doorway, which was closed with well doors. Minerva took the of the famous sea captain Dymas’s daughter, who was a friend of Nausicaa and just her own age; then, up to the girl’s like a of wind, she over her and said:
“Nausicaa, what can your mother have been about, to have such a lazy daughter? Here are your all in disorder, yet you are going to be married almost immediately, and should not only be well yourself, but should good for those who you. This is the way to a good name, and to make your father and mother proud of you. Suppose, then, that we make tomorrow a day, and start at daybreak. I will come and help you so that you may have as soon as possible, for all the best men among your own people are you, and you are not going to a much longer. Ask your father, therefore, to have a and for us at daybreak, to take the rugs, robes, and girdles, and you can ride, too, which will be much for you than walking, for the washing-cisterns are some way from the town.”
When she had said this Minerva away to Olympus, which they say is the home of the gods. Here no wind roughly, and neither rain can fall; but it in and in a great peacefulness of light, the gods are for and ever. This was the place to which the when she had to the girl.
By and by came and Nausicaa, who about her dream; she therefore to the other end of the house to tell her father and mother all about it, and them in their own room. Her mother was by the her yarn with her around her, and she to catch her father just as he was going out to a meeting of the town council, which the Phaeacian had convened. She stopped him and said:
“Papa dear, you manage to let me have a good big waggon? I want to take all our dirty to the river and wash them. You are the man here, so it is only right that you should have a clean shirt when you of the council. Moreover, you have five sons at home, two of them married, while the other three are good looking bachelors; you know they always like to have clean when they go to a dance, and I have been about all this.”
She did not say a word about her own wedding, for she did not like to, but her father and said, “You shall have the mules, my love, and else you have a mind for. Be off with you, and the men shall you a good with a to it that will all your clothes.”
On this he gave his orders to the servants, who got the out, the mules, and put them to, while the girl the from the room and them on the waggon. Her mother prepared her a of with all of good things, and a skin full of wine; the girl now got into the waggon, and her mother gave her also a of oil, that she and her might themselves. Then she took the and and the on, they set off, and their on the road. They without flagging, and not only Nausicaa and her wash of clothes, but the also who were with her.
When they the water they to the cisterns, through which there ran at all times pure water to wash any quantity of linen, no how dirty. Here they the and them out to on the sweet juicy that by the water side. They took the out of the waggon, put them in the water, and with one another in them in the to the out. After they had them and got them clean, they them out by the sea side, where the had a high beach of shingle, and set about themselves and themselves with oil. Then they got their dinner by the of the stream, and waited for the sun to the clothes. When they had done dinner they off the that their and to play at ball, while Nausicaa sang for them. As the Diana goes upon the of Taygetus or Erymanthus to wild or deer, and the nymphs, of Aegis-bearing Jove, take their sport along with her (then is Leto proud at her a full than the others, and the a whole of beauties), so did the girl her handmaids.
When it was time for them to start home, and they were the and them into the waggon, Minerva to how Ulysses should wake up and see the girl who was to him to the city of the Phaeacians. The girl, therefore, a at one of the maids, which missed her and into water. On this they all shouted, and the noise they Ulysses, who sat up in his of and to wonder what it might all be.
“Alas,” said he to himself, “what of people have I come amongst? Are they cruel, savage, and uncivilised, or and humane? I to the voices of women, and they like those of the that tops, or of and of green grass. At any I am among a of men and women. Let me try if I cannot manage to a look at them.”
As he said this he from under his bush, and off a with thick to his nakedness. He looked like some lion of the that about in his and wind and rain; his as he prowls in of oxen, sheep, or deer, for he is famished, and will into a well homestead, trying to at the sheep—even such did Ulysses to the women, as he near to them all as he was, for he was in great want. On one so and so with salt water, the others off along the that out into the sea, but the of Alcinous firm, for Minerva put into her and took away all from her. She right in of Ulysses, and he he should go up to her, himself at her feet, and her as a suppliant, or where he was and her to give him some and him the way to the town. In the end he it best to her from a in case the girl should take at his near to her knees, so he her in and language.
“O queen,” he said, “I your aid—but tell me, are you a or are you a woman? If you are a and in heaven, I can only that you are Jove’s Diana, for your and none but hers; if on the other hand you are a and live on earth, thrice happy are your father and mother—thrice happy, too, are your and sisters; how proud and they must when they see so a as going out to a dance; most happy, however, of all will he be wedding gifts have been the richest, and who takes you to his own home. I yet saw any one so beautiful, neither man woman, and am in as I you. I can only you to a tree which I saw when I was at Delos near the of Apollo—for I was there, too, with much people after me, when I was on that which has been the of all my troubles. Never yet did such a plant shoot out of the ground as that was, and I and at it as I now and wonder at yourself. I not your knees, but I am in great distress; yesterday the day that I had been about upon the sea. The and have taken me all the way from the Ogygian island,55 and now has me upon this that I may still suffering; for I do not think that I have yet come to the end of it, but that has still much in store for me.
“And now, O queen, have upon me, for you are the person I have met, and I know no one else in this country. Show me the way to your town, and let me have anything that you may have to your in. May you in all your heart’s desire—husband, house, and a happy, peaceful home; for there is nothing in this world than that man and wife should be of one mind in a house. It their enemies, makes the of their friends glad, and they themselves know more about it than any one.”
To this Nausicaa answered, “Stranger, you appear to be a sensible, well-disposed person. There is no for luck; Jove to rich and just as he chooses, so you must take what he has fit to send you, and make the best of it. Now, however, that you have come to this our country, you shall not want for for anything else that a in may look for. I will you the way to the town, and will tell you the name of our people; we are called Phaeacians, and I am to Alcinous, in the whole power of the is vested.”
Then she called her and said, “Stay where you are, you girls. Can you not see a man without away from him? Do you take him for a or a murderer? Neither he any one else can come here to do us Phaeacians any harm, for we are dear to the gods, and live on a land’s end that into the sea, and have nothing to do with any other people. This is only some man who has his way, and we must be to him, for and in are under Jove’s protection, and will take what they can and be thankful; so, girls, give the something to eat and drink, and wash him in the at some place that is from the wind.”
On this the left off away and calling one another back. They Ulysses in the as Nausicaa had told them, and him a shirt and cloak. They also him the little of oil, and told him to go and wash in the stream. But Ulysses said, “Young women, to a little on one that I may wash the from my and myself with oil, for it is long since my skin has had a of oil upon it. I cannot wash as long as you all keep there. I am to strip56 a number of good looking women.”
Then they on one and to tell the girl, while Ulysses himself in the and the from his and from his shoulders. When he had himself, and had got the out of his hair, he himself with oil, and put on the which the girl had him; Minerva then him look and than before, she also the thick on the top of his head, and in like blossoms; she him about the and as a who has art of all under Vulcan and Minerva a piece of plate by it—and his work is full of beauty. Then he and sat a little way off upon the beach, looking and handsome, and the girl on him with admiration; then she said to her maids:
“Hush, my dears, for I want to say something. I the gods who live in have sent this man to the Phaeacians. When I saw him I him plain, but now his is like that of the gods who in heaven. I should like my husband to be just such another as he is, if he would only here and not want to go away. However, give him something to eat and drink.”
They did as they were told, and set food Ulysses, who ate and ravenously, for it was long since he had had food of any kind. Meanwhile, Nausicaa her of another matter. She got the and in the waggon, she then the mules, and, as she took her seat, she called Ulysses:
“Stranger,” said she, “rise and let us be going to the town; I will you at the house of my excellent father, where I can tell you that you will meet all the best people among the Phaeacians. But be sure and do as I you, for you to be a person. As long as we are going past the and farm lands, the along with the and I will lead the way myself. Presently, however, we shall come to the town, where you will a high all it, and a good on either with a narrow entrance into the city, and the ships will be up by the road side, for every one has a place where his own ship can lie. You will see the market place with a temple of Neptune in the middle of it, and with large in the earth. Here people in ship’s of all kinds, such as and sails, and here, too, are the places where are made, for the Phaeacians are not a nation of archers; they know nothing about and arrows, but are a sea-faring folk, and themselves on their masts, oars, and ships, with which they travel over the sea.
“I am of the and that may be set on against me later on; for the people here are very ill-natured, and some low fellow, if he met us, might say, ‘Who is this fine-looking that is going about with Nausicaa? Where did she him? I she is going to him. Perhaps he is a she has taken from some vessel, for we have no neighbours; or some god has at last come from in answer to her prayers, and she is going to live with him all the of her life. It would be a good thing if she would take herself off and a husband else, for she will not look at one of the many excellent Phaeacians who are in love with her.’ This is the of that would be about me, and I not complain, for I should myself be at any other girl do the like, and go about with men in of everybody, while her father and mother were still alive, and without having been married in the of all the world.
“If, therefore, you want my father to give you an and to help you home, do as I you; you will see a of by the road to Minerva; it has a well in it and a all it. Here my father has a of rich garden ground, about as from the town as a man’s voice will carry. Sit there and wait for a while till the of us can into the town and my father’s house. Then, when you think we must have done this, come into the town and ask the way to the house of my father Alcinous. You will have no in it; any child will point it out to you, for no one else in the whole town has anything like such a house as he has. When you have got past the gates and through the court, go right across the till you come to my mother. You will her by the fire and her by firelight. It is a to see her as she against one of the bearing-posts with her all her. Close to her seat that of my father, on which he and like an god. Never mind him, but go up to my mother, and your hands upon her if you would home quickly. If you can her over, you may to see your own country again, no how it may be.”
So saying she the with her and they left the river. The well, and their up and upon the road. She was not to go too fast for Ulysses and the who were on along with the waggon, so she her with judgement. As the sun was going they came to the of Minerva, and there Ulysses sat and prayed to the of Jove.
“Hear me,” he cried, “daughter of Aegis-bearing Jove, unweariable, me now, for you gave no to my prayers when Neptune was me. Now, therefore, have upon me and that I may friends and be by the Phaeacians.”
Thus did he pray, and Minerva his prayer, but she would not herself to him openly, for she was of her uncle Neptune, who was still in his to prevent Ulysses from home.
