Epic poetry, Greek -- Translations into English; Homer -- Translations into English; Odysseus, King of Ithaca (Mythological character)
At that same hour Odysseus roused him to go to the city, and Athene
shed a deep mist about Odysseus for the favour that she bare him, lest
any of the Phaeacians, high of heart, should meet him and mock him in
sharp speech, and ask him who he was. But when he was now about to
enter the pleasant city, then the goddess, grey-eyed Athene, met him,
in the fashion of a young maiden carrying a pitcher, and she stood over
against him, and goodly Odysseus inquired of her:
“My child, couldst thou not lead me to the palace of the lord Alcinous,
who bears sway among this people? Lo, I am come here, a stranger
travel-worn from afar, from a distant land; wherefore of the folk who
possess this city and country I know not any man.”
Then the goddess, grey-eyed Athene, answered him saying: “Yea now,
father and stranger, I will show thee the house that thou bidst me
declare, for it lies near the palace of my noble father; behold, be
silent as thou goest, and I will lead the way. And look on no man, nor
question any. For these men do not gladly suffer strangers, nor
lovingly entreat whoso cometh from a strange land. They trust to the
speed of their swift ships, wherewith they cross the great gulf, for
the Earth-shaker hath vouchsafed them this power. Their ships are swift
as the flight of a bird, or as a thought.”
Therewith Pallas Athene led the way swiftly, and he followed hard in
the footsteps of the goddess. And it came to pass that the Phaeacians,
mariners renowned, marked him not as he went down the city through
their midst, for the fair tressed Athene suffered it not, that awful
goddess, who shed a wondrous mist about him, for the favour that she
bare him in her heart. And Odysseus marvelled at the havens and the
gallant ships, yea and the places of assembly of the heroes, and the
long high walls crowned with palisades, a marvel to behold. But when
they had now come to the famous palace of the king, the goddess,
grey-eyed Athene, spake first and said:
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