“Hear me, friends,” whispered Nausicaae, as she saw him coming, “methinks some god hath wrought a miracle on this man, who but now was so hideous to behold.  Would that we might prevail with him to make his abode among us!  She would be a proud maiden who should wed with such as him.  Now give the stranger food and drink.”  And they did so, and Odysseus ate and drank with keen appetite, having tasted nothing for many days.  While he was eating, the maidens folded the garments and placed them in the waggon, and when he had finished, Nausicaae mounted the waggon, and bidding him and the handmaids follow on foot started the mules and drove slowly towards the city.  When they reached the cultivated lands outside the walls she drew up, and addressed Odysseus thus:  “Stranger, I may not go with thee further, for I fear the envious tongues of the citizens, who will point the finger at us and say:  ’See what a tall and handsome stranger Nausicaae hath brought with her!—­some seafaring man whom she hath brought with her to be her husband, since she despises the men of her own nation.’  And this will be a reproach unto me.  Therefore wait thou awhile, and do as I bid thee.  Not far from here is a temple and grove of Athene, a fair coppice of poplar-trees, and a spring of clear water.  Go thou thither, and wait until we have time to reach my father’s house, then rise and go into the city and inquire for the dwelling of Alcinous.  A little child could show thee the way, for there is none like it in all the city.”

[Illustration:  Odysseus and Nausicaae]

So saying, Nausicaae drove on, leaving Odysseus where he was.  He soon found the temple, and going in knelt down and prayed to the goddess to continue her favour.  When he thought that Nausicaae had had time to reach home, he rose and went into the city.  The road lay along a narrow causeway, which connected the city with the mainland, and on either side was a sheltered haven, with ships drawn up on the beach.  Passing through the gates he came next to the place of assembly, in front of a temple of Poseidon, with a circle of massive stones bedded deeply in the earth.  Wherever he looked he saw signs of a busy seafaring people—­masts, and oars, and great coils of rope—­and his ears were filled with the sound of saw and hammer from the shipwrights’ yards.

II

As he stood thus gazing about him, he saw a young maiden coming towards him, carrying a pitcher.  He inquired of her the way to the house of Alcinous, and she bade him follow her, as she was going that way.  “My father’s house,” she said, “is close to the house which thou seekest.  But thou art a stranger, I perceive, and not of this land; walk therefore warily, and regard no man, for the Phaeacians love not the face of the stranger, nor are they given to hospitality.  Their home is the deep, and their ships are as swift as a bird—­swift as a thought—­for they are the favourites of Poseidon.”