Then they went out to the garden; and the merchant princes said:  “Heroes, run races with us.  Let us see whose feet are nimblest.”

“We cannot race against you, for our limbs are stiff from sea; and we have lost our two swift comrades, the sons of the north wind.  But do not think us cowards; if you wish to try our strength, we will shoot and box, and wrestle, against any men on earth.”

And Alcinous smiled, and answered:  “I believe you, gallant guests; with your long limbs and broad shoulders, we could never match you here.  For we care nothing here for boxing, or for shooting with the bow; but for feasts, and songs, and harping, and dancing, and running races, to stretch our limbs on shore.”

So they danced there and ran races, the jolly merchant kings, till the night fell, and all went in.

And then they ate and drank, and comforted their weary souls, till Alcinous called a herald, and bade him go and fetch the harper.

The herald went out, and fetched the harper, and led him in by the hand; and Alcinous cut him a piece of meat from the fattest of the haunch, and sent it to him, and said:  “Sing to us, noble harper, and rejoice the heroes’ hearts.”

So the harper played and sang, while the dancers danced strange figures; and after that the tumblers showed their tricks, till the heroes laughed again.

Then, “Tell me, heroes,” asked Alcinous, “you who have sailed the ocean round, and seen the manners of all nations, have you seen such dancers as ours here? or heard such music and such singing?  We hold ours to be the best on earth.”

“Such dancing we have never seen,” said Orpheus; “and your singer is a happy man; for Phoebus himself must have taught him, or else he is the son of a Muse; as I am also, and have sung once or twice, though not so well as he.”

“Sing to us, then, noble stranger,” said Alcinous; “and we will give you precious gifts.”

So Orpheus took his magic harp, and sang to them a stirring song of their voyage from Iolcos, and their dangers, and how they won the golden fleece; and of Medeia’s love, and how she helped them, and went with them over land and sea; and of all their fearful dangers, from monsters, and rocks, and storms, till the heart of Arete was softened, and all the women wept.  And the merchant kings rose up, each man from off his golden throne, and clasped their hands, and shouted:  “Hail to the noble Argonauts, who sailed the unknown seal”

Then he went on, and told their journey over the sluggish northern main, and through the shoreless outer ocean, to the fairy island of the West; and of the Sirens, and Scylla, and Charybdis, and all the wonders they had seen, till midnight passed, and the day dawned; but the kings never thought of sleep.  Each man sat still and listened, with his chin upon his hand.

And at last when Orpheus had ended, they all went thoughtful out, and the heroes lay down to sleep, beneath the sounding porch outside, where Arete had strewn them rugs and carpets, in the sweet still summer night.