" cried she. "We were expecting you."

And the nymph with the sea-green hair made a courtesy down to the ground,
and likewise bade him welcome; so did her sister with the bodice of oaken
bark, and she that sprinkled dew-drops from her fingers' ends, and the
fourth one with some oddity which I cannot remember. And Circe, as the
beautiful enchantress was called (who had deluded so many persons that she
did not doubt of being able to delude Ulysses, not imagining how wise he
was), again addressed him.

"Your companions," said she, "have already been received into my palace,
and have enjoyed the hospitable treatment to which the propriety of their
behavior so well entitles them. If such be your pleasure, you shall first
take some refreshment, and then join them in the elegant apartments which
they now occupy. See, I and my maidens have been weaving their figures
into this piece of tapestry."

She pointed to the web of beautifully woven cloth in the loom. Circe and
the four nymphs must have been very diligently at work since the arrival
of the mariners; for a great many yards of tapestry had now been wrought,
in addition to what I before described. In this new part, Ulysses saw his
two and twenty friends represented as sitting on cushioned and canopied
thrones, greedily devouring dainties and quaffing deep draughts of wine.
The work had not yet gone any further. Oh, no, indeed! The enchantress was
far too cunning to let Ulysses see the mischief which her magic arts had
since brought upon the gormandizers.

"As for yourself, valiant sir," said Circe, "judging by the dignity of
your aspect, I take you to be nothing less than a king. Deign to follow
me, and you shall be treated as befits your rank."

So Ulysses followed her into the oval saloon, where his two and twenty
comrades had devoured the banquet which ended so disastrously for
themselves. But all this while he had held the snow-white flower in his
hand, and had constantly smelt of it while Circe was speaking; and as he
crossed the threshold of the saloon, he took good care to inhale several
long and deep snuffs of its fragrance. Instead of two and twenty thrones,
which had before been ranged around the wall, there was now only a single
throne, in the centre of the apartment. But this was surely the most
magnificent seat that ever a king or an emperor reposed himself upon, all
made of chased gold, studded with precious stones, with a cushion that
looked like a soft h