In _The Odyssey_, Homer tells of the wanderings {88} of Odysseus, King of Ithaca, on his way back from the Trojan war to his own island on the west coast of Greece. His adventures are as wonderful as any that have ever been related in song or story. The description of his home-coming, to his wife Penelope and his son Telemachus, is one of the stories rightly called universal, for such stories belong to everyone. A charming part of _The Odyssey_ contains the story of Odysseus in his wanderings coming to Scheria where King Alcinous reigns. Nausicaa, the King's daughter, with her maidens, had gone out in the early morning to wash the clothes of her father, mother and brethren, and after their labour, the princess and her companions were playing a game of ball when their cries of excitement woke the weary Odysseus from his slumbers. You will find this adventure of Odysseus in the sixth book of _The Odyssey_, of which there is a prose translation by S. H. Butcher and Andrew Lang. There are many other stories of the early Greeks. Some of them have been re-told in three books, written for young people. In _The Heroes_ by Charles Kingsley you may read of Perseus, the Argonauts and Theseus. _Tanglewood Tales_ and _The Wonder Book_ were written by Nathaniel Hawthorne for his children. One of the best of the stories in _The Wonder Book_ is called The Miraculous Pitcher, a tale of two old people, Philemon and his wife Baucis, and of what happened to them. These stories are not exactly fairy-tales, because people believed in that far away time that the gods visited them and played pranks like boys and girls. {89} These three books, _The Heroes_, _Tanglewood Tales_ and _The Wonder Book_ are easy to read and interesting. Yet, after a while, although perhaps not for some years, you likely will find that you would rather turn to a translation of _The Iliad_ or _The Odyssey_, so that you may read for yourself Homer's songs telling of the world long ago in its youth, and of these great heroes. {90} CHAPTER XIV ÆSOP'S FABLES--GRIMM's FAIRY TALES--HANS ANDERSEN'S FAIRY TALES--THE ARABIAN NIGHTS--MALORY'S MORTE D'ARTHUR We know a little of the glorious gift of song that the early Greeks themselves enjoyed and left to coming generations of mankind. But other countries, these countries where men and women earliest taught themselves by hard work, as we say, to be civilized, have also given the world treasures of wit, wisdom and enjoyment. One of the earliest forms used by men, when they wanted to tell of some experience they had had, was the fable. A fable is a very brief, simple story, generally a little story about animals. Very early in the history of mankind, men noticed animals, watched them, saw that the animals often acted somewhat in the same way as men did themselves, and were delighted and amused by their cunning and cleverness. It was natural that people should begin by telling stories about animals.