'Hither, come hither, renowned Ulysses, Great glory of the Achaean name. Here stay thy ship, that thou mayest listen to our song. Never has any man driven his ship past our island Till he has heard our voices, sweet as the honeycomb; Gladly he has heard, and wiser has he gone on his way. Hither, come hither, for we know all things, All that the Greeks wrought and endured in Troyland, All that shall hereafter be upon the fruitful earth.' Thus they sang, offering Ulysses all knowledge and wisdom, which they knew that he loved more than anything in the world. To other men, no doubt, they would have offered other pleasures. Ulysses desired to listen, and he nodded to his men to loosen his bonds. But Perimedes and Eurylochus arose, and laid on him yet stronger bonds, and the ship was driven past that island, till the song of the Sirens faded away, and then the men set Ulysses free and took the wax out of their ears. III THE WHIRLPOOL, THE SEA MONSTER, AND THE CATTLE OF THE SUN They had not sailed far when they heard the sea roaring, and saw a great wave, over which hung a thick shining cloud of spray. They had drifted to a place where the sea narrowed between two high black rocks: under the rock on the left was a boiling whirlpool in which no ship could live; the opposite rock showed nothing dangerous, but Ulysses had been warned by Circe that here too lay great peril. We may ask, Why did Ulysses pass through the narrows between these two rocks? why did he not steer on the outer side of one or the other? The reason seems to have been that, on the outer side of these cliffs, were the tall reefs which men called the Rocks Wandering. Between them the sea water leaped in high columns of white foam, and the rocks themselves rushed together, grinding and clashing, while fire flew out of the crevices and crests as from a volcano.