s changes and became as we had seen
him first.

[Illustration]

'"Son of Atreus," said he, speaking to me, "who was it showed you how to
lay this ambush for me?"'

'"It is for you who know all things," said I, "to make answer to us.
Tell me now why it is that I am held on this island? Which of the gods
holds me here and for what reason?"'

'Then the Ancient One of the Sea answered me, speaking truth, "Zeus, the
greatest of all the gods holds you here. You neglected to make sacrifice
to the gods and for that reason you are held on this island."

'"Then," said I, "what must I do to win back the favor of the gods?"'

'He told me, speaking truth, "Before setting sail for your own land," he
said, "you must return to the river AEgyptus that flows out of Africa,
and offer sacrifice there to the gods."'

'When he said this my spirit was broken with grief. A long and a
grievous way would I have to sail to make that sacrifice, turning back
from my own land. Yet the will of the gods would have to be done. Again
I was moved to question the Ancient One of the Sea, and to ask him for
tidings of the men who were my companions in the wars of Troy.

'Ah, son of Odysseus, more broken than ever was my spirit with grief
when he told me of their fates. Then I heard how my brother, great
Agamemnon, reached his own land and was glad in his heart. But his wife
had hatred for him, and in his own hall she and AEgisthus had him slain.
I sat and wept on the sands, but still I questioned the Ancient One of
the Sea. And he told me of strong Aias and how he was killed by the
falling rock after he had boasted that Poseidon, the god of the Sea,
could afflict him no more. And of your father, the renowned Odysseus,
the Ancient One had a tale to tell.

'Then, and even now it may be, Odysseus was on an island away from all
mankind. "There he abides in the hall of the nymph Calypso," the Ancient
One of the Sea told me. "I saw him shed great tears because he could not
go from that place. But he has no ship and no companions and the nymph
Calypso holds him there. And always he longs to return to his own
country, to the land of Ithaka." And after he had spoken to me of
Odysseus, he went from us and plunged into the sea.

'Thereafter I went back to the river AEgyptus and moored my ships and
made pious sacrifice to the gods. A fair wind came to us and we set out
for our own country. Swiftly we came to it, and now you see me the
happiest of all those