ive land.

NAUSICAA.--For seventeen days Odysseus contrived to pilot the raft
skilfully through all the perils of the deep, directing his course
according to the directions {318} of Calypso, and guided by the stars of
heaven. On the eighteenth day he joyfully hailed the distant outline of the
Phaeacian coast, and began to look forward hopefully to temporary rest and
shelter. But Poseidon, still enraged with the hero who had blinded and
insulted his son, caused an awful tempest to arise, during which the raft
was swamped by the waves, and Odysseus only saved himself by clinging for
bare life to a portion of the wreck.

For two days and nights he floated about, drifted hither and thither by the
angry billows, till at last, after many a narrow escape of his life, the
sea-goddess Leucothea came to his aid, and he was cast ashore on the coast
of Scheria, the island of the luxurious Phaeaces. Worn out with the
hardships and dangers he had passed through he crept into a thicket for
security, and, lying down on a bed of dried leaves, soon fell fast asleep.

It chanced that Nausicaa, the beautiful daughter of king Alcinous and his
queen Arete, had come down to the shore, accompanied by her maidens, to
wash the linen which was destined to form part of her marriage portion.
When they had finished their task they bathed and sat down to a repast,
after which they amused themselves with singing and playing at ball.

Their joyous shouts at last awoke Odysseus, who, rising from his hiding
place, suddenly found himself in the midst of the happy group. Alarmed at
his wild aspect the attendants of Nausicaa fled in terror; but the
princess, pitying the forlorn condition of the stranger, addressed him with
kind and sympathetic words. After hearing from him the account of his
shipwreck and the terrible hardships he had undergone, Nausicaa called back
her attendants, reproached them for their want of courtesy, and bade them
supply the wanderer with food, drink, and suitable raiment. Odysseus then
left the maidens to resume their games, whilst he bathed and clothed
himself with the garments with which they had furnished him. Athene now
appeared to the hero and endowed him with a commanding and magnificent
stature, and with more than mortal beauty. When he reappeared, the young
{319} princess was struck with admiration, and requested the hero to visit
the palace of her father. She then desired her attendants to yoke the mules
to the wagons an