shape of a man in a long robe, the fleecy whiteness of which was made out
of the fountain's spray; now it was a lion, or a tiger, or a wolf, or an
ass, or, as often as anything else, a hog, wallowing in the marble basin
as if it were his sty. It was either magic or some very curious machinery
that caused the gushing waterspout to assume all these forms. But, before
the strangers had time to look closely at this wonderful sight, their
attention was drawn off by a very sweet and agreeable sound. A woman's
voice was singing melodiously in another room of the palace, and with her
voice was mingled the noise of a loom, at which she was probably seated,
weaving a rich texture of cloth, and intertwining the high and low
sweetness of her voice into a rich tissue of harmony.

By and by the song came to an end; and then, all at once, there were
several feminine voices, talking airily and cheerfully, with now and then
a merry burst of laughter, such as you may always hear when three or four
young women sit at work together.

"What a sweet song that was!" exclaimed one of the voyagers.

"Too sweet, indeed," answered Eurylochus, shaking his head. "Yet it was
not so sweet as the song of the Sirens, those birdlike damsels who wanted
to tempt us on the rocks, so that our vessel might be wrecked, and our
bones left whitening along the shore."

"But just listen to the pleasant voices of those maidens, and that buzz of
the loom, as the shuttle passes to and fro," said another comrade. "What a
domestic, household, homelike sound it is! Ah, before that weary siege of
Troy, I used to hear the buzzing loom and the women's voices under my own
roof. Shall I never hear them again? nor taste those nice little savory
dishes which my dearest wife knew how to serve up?"

"Tush! we shall fare better here," said another. "But how innocently those
women are babbling together, without guessing that we overhear them! And
mark that richest voice of all, so pleasant and familiar, but which yet
seems to have the authority of a mistress among them. Let us show
ourselves at once. What harm can the lady of the palace and her maidens do
to mariners and warriors like us?"

"Remember," said Eurylochus, "that it was a young maiden who beguiled
three of our friends into the palace of the king of the Laestrygons, who
ate up one of them in the twinkling of an eye."

No warning or persuasion, however, had any effect on his companions. They
went up to a pair of