“But thou hast asked me what I know of the fortunes of Odysseus, since he departed from Troy; and verily I will tell thee all that I have heard, without turning aside in my tale.  I must go back to the time when I lay wind-bound with my ships in a little island off the mouth of the Nile.  The island is called Pharos, and it is distant a day’s voyage from the river’s mouth.  I had lain there twenty days, and still not a breath of air ruffled the glassy surface of the sea.  All our stores were consumed, and we had nothing to eat but the fish which my men caught with rudely fashioned hooks and lines.  One day I left my men busy with their angling, and wandered away along the shore, full of sad thoughts, and wondering how all this would end.  Suddenly I heard a light footstep on the pebbles, and there stepped forth from behind a tall rock a young maiden in white, flowing robes.  Full of dread I saw her coming towards me; for I knew that she was no mortal woman.  But her look was gracious, and her voice was sweet; so I took courage as she said:  ’Who art thou, stranger, and why lingerest thou with thy company in this desert place?  I am Eidothea, daughter of Proteus, the ancient one of the sea; and I am ready to help thee, if thou wilt tell me thy need.’

“Then I told her how I had been kept an unwilling captive on the island, and begged her to let me know what power I had offended, that he might be appeased by sacrifice, and suffer the wind to blow.  ’There is one who can tell thee all that thou desirest to know,’ answered she.  ’Yea, Proteus, my father, will show thee how to win thy path across the watery waste.  No secrets are hidden from him, neither on earth nor in the sea; and he can tell thee all that hath befallen in thy house in the long years of thine absence.  Now hearken, and I will tell thee how thou mayest wring from him all his secrets.  Every day at noon he comes forth from the sea, and lays him down to sleep in a rocky cave; and about him are couched his herd of seals.  I will bring thee to the place in the early morning, and set thee in ambush to await his coming.  Choose three of the stoutest of thy men to aid thee in the adventure, and as soon as thou seest him asleep rush upon him and hold him fast.  He will struggle hard, and take a hundred different shapes; but loose him not until he return to his own form, and then will he reveal to thee all that he has to tell.’

“So saying, the goddess disappeared beneath the waves.  Next morning I went with three picked men to the appointed place, and soon Eidothea arrived, bearing four hides of seals, freshly flayed.  Then she hollowed out four pits in the sand for us to lie in, and clothed us in the skins, and couched us together.  Now that bed had like to have been our last, for we were stifled by the dreadful stench of the seabred seals.  But the goddess saw our distress, and found a remedy; for she brought ambrosia and set it beneath our nostrils, and that heavenly perfume overpowered the noisome stench.