n to his house, but I fear that if I should, he, out of
friendliness, would be anxious to make me stay many days. But I know
that I should now return to Ithaka.'

The son of Nestor turned the horses towards the sea and they drove the
chariot to where Telemachus' ship was anchored. Then Telemachus gathered
his followers, and he bade them take on board the presents that Menelaus
and Helen had given him.

They did this, and they raised the mast and the sails and the rowers
took their seats on the benches. A breeze came and the sails took it and
Telemachus and his companions sailed towards home. And all unknown to
the youth, his father, Odysseus, was even then nearing his home.

PART II

HOW ODYSSEUS LEFT CALYPSO'S ISLAND AND CAME TO THE LAND OF THE
PHAEACIANS; HOW HE TOLD HE FARED WITH THE CYCLOPES AND WENT PAST THE
TERRIBLE SCYLLA AND CHARYBDIS AND CAME TO THE ISLAND OF THRINACIA WHERE
HIS MEN SLAUGHTERED THE CATTLE OF THE SUN; HOW HE WAS GIVEN A SHIP BY
THE PHAEACIANS AND CAME TO HIS OWN LAND; HOW HE OVERTHREW THE WOOERS WHO
WASTED HIS SUBSTANCE AND CAME TO REIGN AGAIN AS KING OF ITHAKA

[Illustration]

I

Ever mindful was Pallas Athene of Odysseus although she might not help
him openly because of a wrong he had done Poseidon, the god of the sea.
But she spoke at the council of the gods, and she won from Zeus a pledge
that Odysseus would now be permitted to return to his own land. On that
day she went to Ithaka, and, appearing to Telemachus, moved him, as has
been told, to go on the voyage in search of his father. And on that day,
too, Hermes, by the will of Zeus, went to Ogygia--to that Island where,
as the Ancient One of the Sea had shown Menelaus, Odysseus was held by
the nymph Calypso.

[Illustration]

Beautiful indeed was that Island. All round the cave where Calypso lived
was a blossoming wood--alder, poplar and cypress trees were there, and
on their branches roosted long-winged birds--falcons and owls and
chattering sea-crows. Before the cave was a soft meadow in which
thousands of violets bloomed, and with four fountains that gushed out of
the ground and made clear streams through the grass. Across the cave
grew a straggling vine, heavy with clusters of grapes. Calypso was
within the cave, and as Hermes came near, he heard her singing one of
her magic songs.

She was before a loom weaving the threads with a golden shuttle. Now she
knew Hermes and was pleased to see him on her Island