rse
that brought destruction to the Trojans. If thou canst, I shall be a
witness amongst all men how the gods have surely given thee the gift of
song.'

Demodocus took down the lyre and sang. His song told how one part of the
Greeks sailed away in their ships and how others with Odysseus to lead
them were now in the center of Priam's City all hidden in the great
Wooden Horse which the Trojans themselves had dragged across their
broken wall. So the Wooden Horse stood, and the people gathered around
talked of what should be done with so wonderful a thing--whether to
break open its timbers, or drag it to a steep hill and hurl it down on
the rocks, or leave it there as an offering to the gods. As an offering
to the gods it was left at last. Then the minstrel sang how Odysseus and
his comrades poured forth from the hollow of the horse and took the
City.

As the minstrel sang, the heart of Odysseus melted within him and tears
fell down his cheeks. None of the company saw him weeping except
Alcinous the King. But the King cried out to the company saying, 'Let
the minstrel cease, for there is one amongst us to whom his song is not
pleasing. Ever since it began the stranger here has wept with tears
flowing down his cheeks.'

The minstrel ceased, and all the company looked in surprise at Odysseus,
who sat with his head bowed and his mantle wrapped around his head. Why
did he weep? each man asked. No one had asked of him his name, for each
thought it was more noble to serve a stranger without knowing his name.

Said the King, speaking again, 'In a brother's place stands the stranger
and the suppliant, and as a brother art thou to us, O unknown guest. But
wilt thou not be brotherly to us? Tell us by what name they call thee in
thine own land. Tell us, too, of thy land and thy city. And tell us,
too, where thou wert borne on thy wanderings, and to what lands and
peoples thou earnest. And as a brother tell us why thou dost weep and
mourn in spirit over the tale of the going forth of the Greeks to the
war of Troy. Didst thou have a kinsman who fell before Priam's City--a
daughter's husband, or a wife's father, or someone nearer by blood? Or
didst thou have a loving friend who fell there--one with an
understanding heart who wast to thee as a brother?'

Such questions the King asked, and Odysseus taking the mantle from
around his head turned round to the company.

IV

Then Odysseus spoke before the company and said, 'O