“_And joyance fills them, while with hearts elate They see a thing so lovely delicate Upon the dancing-floor. But far beyond All others is that man most fortunate,_ “_Who loading you with many a precious thing May woo you and to share his home may bring._“[12] Cunning Odysseus’s words are winged with a deeper significance than he knows, for all his subtlety and tact. Does Nausicaa recall her dream, just at this point? We cannot tell. But when he goes on to relate at length about the dreadful voyage on the raft through the vengeful storms of Poseidon, she pities and longs to help him. She has gauged him shrewdly, too. This eloquent stranger, with his air of frank deference, is no rogue nor fool; but whoever and whatever he may be, he is a suppliant whom it is the will of Zeus to succour. So she speaks cheerily to him, to allay his anxiety, telling him that he is in the land of a friendly people, whose king, Alcinous, is her father. She will herself guide him to the palace and see that he is cared for. Then she turns to reproach the silly fear of her maids: “_Stand still, my women! Why so timorous At a man’s face? You do not surely think This man is here with ill intent to us?_ “_That living mortal is not, nor shall be, Who to Phaeacia bearing enmity May come: for very dear to heaven we are, And dwell apart amid the surging sea._ “_... But to our abode We must make welcome this poor wanderer. Strangers and beggars all are dear to God._ “_... With this stranger be it so. Give him to eat and drink, and make him bathe In shelter, down the windswept bank below._“[12] So Odysseus is bathed and clothed and fed; and Nausicaa, looking shyly at him as he reappears, is astonished at the wonderful change that has come over him. She speaks apart to the women, a little wistfully. “_Listen, O white-armed girls, to what I say. Not without warrant of the Gods’ array Who hold Olympus, does this man arrive In the divine Phaeacian land to-day._ [Illustration: NAUSICAA & ODYSSEUS _Batten Wilson_ ] “_Uncomely at the first he seemed to be But now the Gods are not more fair than he, Who hold wide heaven: I would that such an one Dwelt here and bore a husband’s name to me._“[12]