had prepared, and made it red hot, all the while speaking cheerfully
and comfortingly to his men. When it was so hot that the wood, green
though it was, began to blaze, they drew it out and thrust it into
the giant's eye. Round and round they whirled the fiery pike, as a
man bores a hole in a plank, until the blood gushed out, and the eye
frizzled and hissed, and the flames singed and burned the eyelids, and
the eye was burned out. With a great and terrible cry the giant sprang
to his feet, and Odysseus and the others fled from before him. From
his eye he dragged the blazing pike, all dripping with his blood, and
dashed it to the ground. Then, maddened with pain, he called with a
great and terrible cry on the other Cyclôpes, who dwelt in their caves
on the hill-tops round which the wind swept. The giants, hearing his
horrid yells, rushed to help him.
"What ails thee, Polyphemus?" they asked. "Why dost thou cry aloud
in the night and awake us from our sleep? Surely no one stealeth thy
flocks? None slayeth thee by force or by craft."
From the other side of the great stone moaned Polyphemus: "Noman is
slaying me by craft."
Then the Cyclôpes said: "If no man is hurting thee, then indeed it
must be a sickness that makes thee cry so loud, and this thou must
bear, for we cannot help."
With that they strode away from the cave and left the blind giant
groaning and raging with pain. Groping with his hands, he found the
great stone that blocked the door, lifted it away, and sat himself
down in the mouth of the cave, with his arms stretched out, hoping
to catch Odysseus and his men if they should try to escape. Sitting
there, he fell asleep, and, as soon as he slept, Odysseus planned and
plotted how best to win freedom.
The rams of the giant's flocks were great strong beasts, with fleeces
thick and woolly, and as dark as the violet. With twisted slips of
willow Odysseus lashed every three of them together, and under the
middle ram of each three he bound one of his men. For himself he
kept the best ram of the flock, young and strong, and with a fleece
wonderfully thick and shaggy. Underneath this ram Odysseus curled
himself, and clung, face upwards, firmly grasping the wool with his
hands. In this wise did he and his men wait patiently for the dawn.
When rosy dawn came, the ewes in the pens bleated to be milked and the
rams hastened out to the hills and green meadows. As each sheep passed
him, Polyphemus felt along its back, but never guessed that the six
remaining men of Odysseus were bound beneath the thick-fleeced rams.
Last of all came the young ram to which Odysseus clung, moving slowly,
for his fleece was heavy, and Odysseus whom he bore was heavier still.
On the ram's back Polyphemus laid his great hands. "Dear ram," said
he, "once wert thou the very first to lead the flocks from the cave,
the first to nibble the tender buds of the pasture, the first to find
out the running streams, and the first to come home when evening fell.
But to-day thou art the very last to go. Surely thou art sorrowful
because the wicked Noman hath destroyed my eye. I would thou couldst
speak and tell me where Noman is hidden. Then should I seize him and
gladly dash out his brains on the floor of the cave."
Very, very still lay Odysseus while the giant spoke, but the ram
slowly walked on past the savage giant, towards the meadows near the
sea. Soon it was far enough from the cave for Odysseus to let go his
hold and to stand up. Quickly he loosened the bonds of the others, and
swiftly then they drove the rams down to the shore where their ship
lay. Often they looked round, expecting to see Polyphemus following
them, but they safely reached the ship and got a glad welcome from
their friends, who rejoiced over them, but would have wept over the
men that the cannibal giant had slain.
"There is no time to weep," said Odysseus, and he made his men hasten
on board the ship, driving the sheep before them.
Soon they were all on board, and the gray sea-water was rushing off
their oars, as they sailed away from the land of the Cyclôpes.
But before they were out of sight of land, the bold Odysseus lifted up
his voice and shouted across the water:
"Hear me, Polyphemus, thou cruel monster! Thine evil deeds were very
sure to find thee out. Thou hast been punished because thou hadst no
shame to eat the strangers who came to thee as thy guests!"
The voice of Odysseus rang across the waves, and reached Polyphemus as
he sat in pain at the mouth of his cave.
In a fury the giant sprang up, broke off the peak of a great hill
and cast it into the sea, where it fell just in front of the ship of
Odysseus.
So huge a splash did the vast rock give, that the sea heaved up and
the backwash of the water drove the ship right to the shore.
Odysseus snatched up a long pole and pushed the ship off once more.
Silently he motioned to the men to row hard, and save themselves and
their ship from the angry giant. When they were once more out at sea,
Odysseus wished again to mock Polyphemus.
In vain his men begged him not to provoke a monster so mighty that he
could crush their heads and the timbers of their ship with one cast of
a stone. Once more Odysseus shouted across the water:
"Polyphemus, if any one shall ask thee who blinded thee, tell them it
was Odysseus of Ithaca."
Then moaned the giant:
"Once, long ago, a soothsayer told me that Odysseus should make me
blind. But ever I looked for the coming of a great and gallant hero,
and now there hath come a poor feeble, little dwarf, who made me weak
with wine before he dared to touch me."
Then he begged Odysseus to come back, and said he would treat him
kindly, and told him that he knew that his own father, the god of the
sea, would give him his sight again.
"Never more wilt thou have thy sight," mocked Odysseus; "thy father
will never heal thee."
Then Polyphemus, stretching out his hands, and looking up with his
sightless eye to the starry sky, called aloud to Poseidon, god of the
sea, to punish Odysseus.
"If he ever reaches his own country," he cried, "let him come late
and in an evil case, with all his own company lost, and in the ship of
strangers, and let him find sorrows in his own house."
No answer came from Poseidon, but the god of the sea heard his son's
prayer.
With all his mighty force Polyphemus then cast at the ship a rock far
greater than the first. It all but struck the end of the rudder, but
the huge waves that surged up from it bore on the ship, and carried it
to the further shore.
There they found the men with the other ships waiting in sorrow and
dread, for they feared that the giants had killed Odysseus and his
company. Gladly they drove the rams of Polyphemus on to the land, and
there feasted together until the sun went down.
All night they slept on the sea beach, and at rosy dawn Odysseus
called to his men to get into their ships and loose the hawsers.
Soon they had pushed off, and were thrusting their oars into the gray
sea-water.
Their hearts were sore, because they had lost six gallant men of their
company, yet they were glad as men saved from death.
III
HOW ODYSSEUS MET WITH CIRCE, THE SIRENS, AND CALYPSO
Across the seas sailed Odysseus and his men till they came to an
island where lived Æolus the keeper of the winds. When Odysseus again
set sail, Æolus gave him a great leather bag in which he had placed
all the winds except the wind of the west. His men thought the bag to
be full of gold and silver, so, while Odysseus slept they loosened the
silver thong, and, with a mighty gust all the winds rushed out driving
the ship far away from their homeland.
Ere long they reached another island, where dwelt a great enchantress,
Circe of the golden tresses, whose palace Eurylochus discovered.
Within they heard Circe singing, so they called to her and she came
forth and bade them enter. Heedlessly they followed her, all but
Eurylochus. Then Circe smote them with her magic wand and they were
turned into swine.
When Odysseus heard what had befallen his men he was very angry and
would have slain her with his sword. But Circe cried: "Sheathe thy
sword, I pray thee, Odysseus, and let us be at peace." Then said
Odysseus: "How can I be at peace with thee, Circe? How can I trust
thee?" Then Circe promised to do Odysseus no harm, and to let him
return in safety to his home.
Then she opened the doors of the sty and waved her wand. And the swine
became men again even handsomer and stronger than before.
For a whole year Odysseus and his men stayed in the palace, feasting
and resting. When they at last set sail again the sorceress told
Odysseus of many dangers he would meet on his homeward voyage, and
warned him how to escape from them.
In an island in the blue sea through which the ship of Odysseus would
sail toward home, lived some beautiful mermaids called Sirens. Even
more beautiful than the Sirens' faces were their lovely voices by
which they lured men to go on shore and there slew them. In the
flowery meadows were the bones of the foolish sailors who had seen
only the lovely faces and long, golden hair of the Sirens, and had
lost their hearts to them.
Against these mermaids Circe had warned Odysseus, and he repeated her
warnings to his men.
Following her advice he filled the ears of the men with wax and bade
them bind him hand and foot to the mast.
Past the island drove the ship, and the Sirens seeing it began their
sweet song. "Come hither, come hither, brave Odysseus," they sang.
Then Odysseus tried to make his men unbind him, but Eurylochus and
another bound him yet more tightly to the mast.
When the island was left behind, the men took the wax from their ears
and unbound their captain. After passing the Wandering Rocks with
their terrible sights and sounds the ship came to a place of great
peril. Beyond them were yet two huge rocks between which the sea
swept.
One of these ran up to the sky, and in this cliff was a dark cave in
which lived Scylla a horrible monster, who, as the ship passed seized
six of the men with her six dreadful heads.
In the cliff opposite lived another terrible creature called Charybdis
who stirred the sea to a fierce whirlpool.
By a strong wind the ship was driven into this whirlpool, but Odysseus
escaped on a broken piece of wreckage to the shores of an island.
On this island lived Calypso of the braided tresses, a goddess feared
by all men. But, to Odysseus she was very kind and he soon became as
strong as ever.
"Stay with me, and thou shalt never grow old and never die," said
Calypso.
A great homesickness had seized Odysseus, but no escape came for eight
years. Then Athene begged the gods to help him. They called on Hermes,
who commanded Calypso to let him go. She wanted him to stay with her
but promised to send him away. She told him to make a raft which she
would furnish with food and clothing for his need.
He set out and in eighteen days saw the land of the Phæacians appear.
But when safety seemed near, Poseidon, the sea-god, returned from his
wanderings and would have destroyed him had it not been that a fair
sea-nymph gave him her veil to wind around his body. This he did and
finally reached the shore.
IV
HOW ODYSSEUS MET WITH NAUSICAA
In the land of the Phæacians there dwelt no more beautiful, nor any
sweeter maiden, than the King's own daughter. Nausicaa was her name,
and she was so kind and gentle that every one loved her.
To the land of the Phæacians the north wind had driven Odysseus, and
while he lay asleep in his bed of leaves under the olive-trees, the
goddess Athene went to the room in the palace where Nausicaa slept,
and spoke to her in her dreams.
"Some day thou wilt marry, Nausicaa," she said, "and it is time
for thee to wash all the fair raiment that is one day to be thine.
To-morrow thou must ask the King, thy father, for mules and for a
wagon, and drive from the city to a place where all the rich clothing
may be washed and dried."
When morning came Nausicaa remembered her dream, and went to tell her
father.
Her mother was sitting spinning yarn of sea-purple stain, and her
father was just going to a council meeting.
"Father, dear," said the Princess, "couldst thou lend me a high wagon
with strong wheels, that I may take all my fair linen to the river
to wash. All yours, too, I shall take, so that thou shalt go to the
council in linen that is snowy clean, and I know that my five brothers
will also be glad if I wash their fine clothing for them."
This she said, for she felt too shy to tell her father what Athene had
said about her getting married.
But the King knew well why she asked. "I do not grudge thee mules,
nor anything else, my child," he said. "Go, bid the servants prepare a
wagon."
The servants quickly got ready the finest wagon that the King had, and
harnessed the best of the mules. And Nausicaa's mother filled a basket
with all the dainties that she knew her daughter liked best, so that
Nausicaa and her maidens might feast together. The fine clothes were
piled into the wagon, the basket of food was placed carefully beside
them, and Nausicaa climbed in, took the whip and shining reins, and
touched the mules. Then with clatter of hoofs they started.
When they were come to the beautiful, clear river, amongst whose reeds
Odysseus had knelt the day before, they unharnessed the mules and
drove them along the banks of the river to graze where the clover
grew rich and fragrant. Then they washed the clothes, working hard
and well, and spread them out to dry on the clean pebbles down by the
seashore.
Then they bathed, and when they had bathed they took their midday meal
by the bank of the rippling river.
When they had finished, the sun had not yet dried the clothes, so
Nausicaa and her maidens began to play ball. As they played they sang
a song that the girls of that land would always sing as they threw the
ball to one another. All the maidens were fair, but Nausicaa of the
white arms was the fairest of all.
From hand to hand they threw the ball, growing always the merrier,
until, when it was nearly time for them to gather the clothes together
and go home, Nausicaa threw it very hard to one of the others. The
girl missed the catch. The ball flew into the river, and, as it was
swept away to the sea, the Princess and all her maidens screamed
aloud.
Their cries awoke Odysseus, as he lay asleep in his bed of leaves.
"I must be near the houses of men," he said; "those are the cries of
girls at play."
With that he crept out from the shelter of the olive-trees. He had no
clothes, for he had thrown them all into the sea before he began his
terrible swim for life. But he broke off some leafy branches and held
them round him, and walked down to where Nausicaa and her maidens
were.
Like a wild man of the woods he looked, and when they saw him coming
the girls shrieked and ran away. Some of them hid behind the rocks on
the shore, and some ran out to the shoals of yellow sand that jutted
into the sea.
But although his face was marred with the sea-foam that had crusted on
it, and he looked a terrible, fierce, great creature, Nausicaa was too
brave to run away.
Shaking she stood there, and watched him as he came forward, and stood
still a little way off. Then Odysseus spoke to her, gently and kindly,
that he might take away her fear.
He told her of his shipwreck, and begged her to show him the way to
the town, and give him some old garment, or any old wrap in which she
had brought the linen, so that he might have something besides leaves
with which to cover himself.
"I have never seen any maiden half so beautiful as thou art," he said.
"Have pity on me, and may the gods grant thee all thy heart's desire."
Then said Nausicaa: "Thou seemest no evil man, stranger, and I will
gladly give thee clothing and show thee the way to town. This is the
land of the Phæacians, and my father is the King."
To her maidens then she called:
"Why do ye run away at the sight of a man? Dost thou take him for
an enemy? He is only a poor shipwrecked man. Come, give him food and
drink, and fetch him clothing."
The maidens came back from their hiding-places, and fetched some of
the garments of Nausicaa's brothers which they had brought to wash,
and laid them beside Odysseus.
Odysseus gratefully took the clothes away, and went off to the river.
There he plunged into the clear water, and washed the salt crust from
off his face and limbs and body, and the crusted foam from his hair.
Then he put on the beautiful garments that belonged to one of the
Princes, and walked down to the shore where Nausicaa and her maidens
were waiting.
So tall and handsome and strong did Odysseus look, with his hair
curling like hyacinth flowers around his head, that Nausicaa said to
her maidens: "This man, who seemed to us so dreadful so short a time
ago, now looks like a god. I would that my husband, if ever I have
one, should be as he."
Then she and her maidens brought him food and wine, and he ate
hungrily, for it was many days since he had eaten.
When he had finished, they packed the linen into the wagon, and yoked
the mules, and Nausicaa climbed into her place.
"So long as we are passing through the fields," she said to Odysseus,
"follow behind with my maidens, and I will lead the way. But when we
come near the town with its high walls and towers, and harbors full
of ships, the rough sailors will stare and say, 'Hath Nausicaa gone to
find herself a husband because she scorns the men of Phæacia who would
wed her? Hath she picked up a shipwrecked stranger, or is this one of
the gods who has come to make her his wife?' Therefore come not with
us, I pray thee, for the sailors to jest at. There is a fair poplar
grove near the city, with a meadow lying round it. Sit there until
thou thinkest that we have had time to reach the palace. Then seek the
palace--any child can show thee the way--and when thou art come to the
outer court pass quickly into the room where my mother sits. Thou wilt
find her weaving yarn of sea-purple stain by the light of the fire.
She will be leaning her head back against a pillar, and her maidens
will be standing round her. My father's throne is close to hers,
but pass him by, and cast thyself at my mother's knees. If she feels
kindly towards thee and is sorry for thee, then my father is sure to
help thee to get safely back to thine own land."
Then Nausicaa smote her mules with the whip, and they trotted quickly
off, and soon left behind them the silver river with its whispering
reeds, and the beach with its yellow sand.
Odysseus and the maidens followed the wagon, and just as the sun was
setting they reached the poplar grove in the meadow.
There Odysseus stayed until Nausicaa should have had time to reach
the palace. When she got there, she stopped at the gateway, and her
brothers came out and lifted down the linen, and unharnessed the
mules. Nausicaa went up to her room, and her old nurse kindled a fire
for her and got ready her supper.
When Odysseus thought it was time to follow, he went to the city.
He marveled at the great walls and at the many gallant ships in the
harbors. But when he reached the King's palace, he wondered still
more. Its walls were of brass, so that from without, when the doors
stood open, it looked as if the sun or moon were shining within. A
frieze of blue ran round the walls. All the doors were made of gold,
the doorposts were of silver, the thresholds of brass, and the hook of
the door was of gold. In the halls were golden figures of animals, and
of men who held in their hands lighted torches. Outside the courtyard
was a great garden filled with blossoming pear-trees and pomegranates,
and apple-trees with shining fruit, and figs, and olives. All the year
round there was fruit in that garden. There were grapes in blossom,
and grapes purple and ready to eat, and there were great masses of
snowy pear-blossom, and pink apple-blossom, and golden ripe pears, and
rosy apples.
At all of those wonders Odysseus stood and gazed, but it was not for
long; for he hastened through the halls to where the Queen sat in the
firelight, spinning her purple yarn. He fell at her knees, and silence
came on all those in the room when they looked at him, so brave and so
handsome did he seem.
"Through many and great troubles have I come hither, Queen," said he;
"speed, I pray you, my parting right quickly, that I may come to mine
own country. Too long have I suffered great sorrows far away from my
own friends."
Then he sat down amongst the ashes by the fire, and for a little space
no one spoke.
At last a wise old courtier said to the King: "Truly it is not right
that this stranger should sit in the ashes by the fire. Bid him arise,
and give him meat and drink."
At this the King took Odysseus by the hand and asked him to rise. He
made one of his sons give up his silver inlaid chair, and bade his
servants fetch a silver basin and a golden ewer that Odysseus might
wash his hands. All kinds of dainties to eat and drink he also made
them bring, and the lords and the courtiers who were there feasted
along with Odysseus, until it was time for them to go to their own
homes.
Before they went the King promised Odysseus a safe convoy back to his
own land.
When he was left alone with the King and Queen, the latter said to
him: "Tell us who thou art. I myself made the clothing that thou
wearest. From whence didst thou get it?"
Then Odysseus told her of his imprisonment in the island of Calypso,
of his escape, of the terrible storm that shattered his raft, and of
how at length he reached the shore and met with Nausicaa.
"It was wrong of my daughter not to bring thee to the palace when she
came with her maids," said the King.
But Odysseus told him why it was that Nausicaa had bade him stay
behind.
"Be not vexed with this blameless maiden," he said. "Truly she is the
sweetest and the fairest maiden I ever saw."
Then Odysseus went to the bed that the servants had prepared for him.
They had spread fair purple blankets over it, and when it was ready
they stood beside it with their torches blazing, golden and red.
"Up now, stranger, get thee to sleep," said they. "Thy bed is made."
Sleep was very sweet to Odysseus that night as he lay in the soft bed
with warm blankets over him. He was no longer tossed and beaten by
angry seas, no longer wet and cold and hungry. The roar of furious
waves did not beat in his ears, for all was still in the great halls
where the flickering firelight played on the frieze of blue, and
turned the brass walls into gold.
Next day the King gave a great entertainment for Odysseus. There were
boxing and wrestling and leaping and running, and in all of these the
brothers of Nausicaa were better than all others who tried.
But when they came to throw the weight, and begged Odysseus to try, he
cast a stone heavier than all others, far beyond where the Phæacians
had thrown.
That night there was feasting in the royal halls, and the King's
minstrels played and sang songs of the taking of Troy, and of the
bravery of the great Odysseus. And Odysseus listened until his heart
could bear no more, and tears trickled down his cheeks. Only the King
saw him weep. He wondered much why Odysseus wept, and at last he asked
him.
So Odysseus told the King his name, and the whole story of his
adventures since he had sailed away from Troyland.
Then the King and Queen and their courtiers gave rich gifts to
Odysseus. A beautiful silver-studded sword was the King's gift to him.
Nausicaa gave him nothing, but she stood and gazed at him in his
purple robes and felt more sure than ever that he was the handsomest
and the greatest hero she had ever seen.
"Farewell, stranger," she said to him when the hour came for her to go
to bed, for she knew she would not see him on the morrow. "Farewell,
stranger. Sometimes think of me when thou art in thine own land."
Then said Odysseus: "All the days of my life I shall remember thee,
Nausicaa, for thou hast given me my life."