A Story of the Golden Age

that with which they were wont to meet their returning heroes. He staid only a moment to speak with them. With winged feet he hastened to the hall where his queenly mother waited fo

ould never see thee more, when I heard that thou hadst gone from Parnassus to distant Pelion. Come n

wer. Then, in the halls of the king, a feast was made ready, and the day was given over to music and merry-making; and all t

e asked him many questions about her aged sire Autolycus, and about the dear home of her girlhood on the farther side of Mount Parn

nd that your eyes would never more behold fair Ithaca?

Who would be afraid when shielded and led by so great a friend? Then, too, good Phemius questione

indred he shall sa

-won, and greeted w

know that you have returned to your home, and that you have been

the woods of Parnassus, and of the days of pain and enforced quiet which he had afterward spent on an invalid's couch. And all those who listened to his story were struck with

s himself worked early and late in his vineyards or in his well-tilled orchard grounds; and Odysseus was often with him, as busy as he, tending his own trees and vines. For, long time before, when he was but a little child, the boy had walked through these grounds with his father, and had asked the names of the

had been digged and walled by Ithacus and Neritus, the first settlers of the island; and close by it was a thicket of reeds and alders, growing green and rank from the boggy soil; while, on the rock from beneath which the ice-cold water gushed, an altar ha

alled Corax, was the spring of Arethusa, around which grew many great oak trees, yielding abundance of acorns. There the sla

ed to the sties where the fattest young pigs were penned. Two of these he killed and dressed; and when he had cut them in pieces, he roasted the choicest parts on spits before the fire. Then he set the smoking food upon a table before Odysseus and his comrades, and sprinkled it

e welcome to tired and hungry boys than plenty of well-seasoned food. Su

ince, noble as yourself. But the Fates bring strange fortunes to

own in which your father and your lady mother dwelt, laid waste by an enemy? Or did unfrien

TELLING HIS ST

TELLING HIS ST

ill tell it you. But sit you here upon this couch of goat skins

ever goes hungry for lack of food, and sickness never comes; but when men grow old, then silver-bowed Apollo, and Artemis his huntress sister, strike them with their noiseless arrows, and they cease to live. In that island stand tw

o barter with our folk for corn and wine; and they moored their vessel in the harbor close to the shore. In my father's house there dwelt a Phoenician slave-w

e shore, a band of Taphian sea-robbers seized me unawares, and carried me in their dark-hulled ship across the sea. They brought me to t

might again behold her father and mother, and the sweet home of her girlhood. An

rn and wine, send some one to the house who shall tell me secretly. Then I will hie me to your swift-sailing vessel, bringing gold wherewith to pay my fare, and, if fortune favor, even more than gold. For I am nurs

hoenician nurse, and straightway gathered up his goods, and hastened back to his fellows. When the sun went down, the woman took my hand, and led me from the house as she had often done before. Thoughtlessly I followed her to the shore where the fast-sailing ship was moored. The Phoenicians took us both on board; they hoisted the broad sail, and a brisk wind quickly carried us far away from my home and friends. On the seventh day, Artemis the archer queen

9 at the end

told Odysseus and his young companio

sad one; and, could I do so, I would gladly send thee back t

must be spent in this spot; yet I am happy in knowing that my master is the kindest of men, and that I shall be well provided for. Even a slave