shly wasted on these flowers,"
observed one of the company; and I tell you what he said, that you may
keep in mind what gormandizers they were. "For my part, if I were the
owner of the palace, I would bid my gardener cultivate nothing but savory
potherbs to make a stuffing for roast meat, or to flavor a stew with."

"Well said!" cried the others. "But I'll warrant you there's a kitchen
garden in the rear of the palace."

At one place they came to a crystal spring, and paused to drink at it for
want of liquor which they liked better. Looking into its bosom, they
beheld their own faces dimly reflected, but so extravagantly distorted by
the gush and motion of the water, that each one of them appeared to be
laughing at himself and all his companions. So ridiculous were these
images of themselves, indeed, that they did really laugh aloud, and could
hardly be grave again as soon as they wished. And after they had drunk,
they grew still merrier than before.

"It has a twang of the wine-cask in it," said one, smacking his lips.

"Make haste!" cried his fellows; "we'll find the wine-cask itself at the
palace; and that will be better than a hundred crystal fountains."

Then they quickened their pace, and capered for joy at the thought of the
savory banquet at which they hoped to be guests. But Eurylochus told them
that he felt as if he were walking in a dream.

"If I am really awake," continued he, "then, in my opinion, we are on the
point of meeting with some stranger adventure than any that befell us in
the cave of Polyphemus, or among the gigantic man-eating Laestrygons, or in
the windy palace of King AEolus, which stands on a brazen-walled island.
This kind of dreamy feeling always comes over me before any wonderful
occurrence. If you take my advice, you will turn back."

"No, no," answered his comrades, snuffing the air, in which the scent from
the palace kitchen was now very perceptible. "We would not turn back,
though we were certain that the king of the Laestrygons, as big as a
mountain, would sit at the head of the table, and huge Polyphemus, the
one-eyed Cyclops, at its foot."

At length they came within full sight of the palace, which proved to be
very large and lofty, with a great number of airy pinnacles upon its roof.
Though it was now midday, and the sun shone brightly over the marble
front, yet its snowy whiteness and its fantastic style of architecture
made it look unreal, like the frostwork on a window-pa