It narrowly escaped
lighting upon the bark in which Ulysses sat, but with the fall it raised
so fierce an ebb as bore back the ship till it almost touched the shore.
"Cyclop," said Ulysses, "if any ask thee who imposed on thee that
unsightly blemish in thine eye, say it was Ulysses, son of Laertes: the
king of Ithaca am I called, the waster of cities." Then they crowded sail,
and beat the old sea, and forth they went with a forward gale; sad for
fore-past losses, yet glad to have escaped at any rate; till they came to
the isle where Aeolus reigned, who is god of the winds.
Here Ulysses and his men were courteously received by the monarch, who
showed him his twelve children which have rule over the twelve winds. A
month they stayed and feasted with him, and at the end of the month he
dismissed them with many presents, and gave to Ulysses at parting an ox's
hide, in which were enclosed _all the winds_: only he left abroad the
western wind, to play upon their sails and waft them gently home to
Ithaca. This bag, bound in a glittering silver band so close that no
breath could escape, Ulysses hung up at the mast. His companions did not
know its contents, but guessed that the monarch had given to him some
treasures of gold or silver.
Nine days they sailed smoothly, favoured by the western wind, and by the
tenth they approached so nigh as to discern lights kindled on the shores
of their country earth: when, by ill-fortune, Ulysses, overcome with
fatigue of watching the helm, fell asleep.
Pages:
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26