d prepare to return home.

Odysseus was cordially received by the king and queen, who entertained him
with magnificent hospitality, and in return for their kindness the hero
related to them the history of his long and eventful voyage, and the many
extraordinary adventures and miraculous escapes which had befallen him
since his departure from the coast of Ilion.

When he at last took leave of his royal entertainers Alcinous loaded him
with rich gifts, and ordered him to be conveyed in one of his own ships to
Ithaca.

ARRIVAL AT ITHACA.--The voyage was a short and prosperous one. By the
direction of king Alcinous rich furs had been laid on deck for the comfort
of his guest, on which the hero, leaving the guidance of the ship to the
Phaeacian sailors, soon fell into a deep sleep. When next morning the vessel
arrived in the harbour of Ithaca the sailors, concluding that so unusually
profound a slumber must be sent by the gods, conveyed him on shore without
disturbing him, where they gently placed him beneath the cool shade of an
olive-tree.

When Odysseus awoke he knew not where he was, for his ever-watchful
protectress Pallas-Athene had enveloped him in a thick cloud in order to
conceal him from view. She now appeared to him in the disguise of a
shepherd, and informed him that he was in his native land; that his father
Laertes, bent with sorrow and old age, had withdrawn from the court; that
his son Telemachus had grown to manhood, and was gone to seek for tidings
of his father; and that his wife Penelope was harassed by the importunities
of numerous suitors, who had taken possession of his home and devoured his
substance. In order to gain time Penelope had promised to marry one of her
lovers as soon as she had finished weaving a robe for the aged Laertes; but
by secretly undoing at night {320} what she had done in the day she
effectually retarded the completion of the work, and thus deferred her
final reply. Just as Odysseus had set foot in Ithaca the angry suitors had
discovered her stratagem, and had become in consequence more clamorous than
ever. When the hero heard that this was indeed his native land, which,
after an absence of twenty years, the gods had at length permitted him to
behold once more, he threw himself on the ground, and kissed it in an
ecstacy of joy.

The goddess, who had meanwhile revealed her identity to Odysseus, now
assisted him to conceal in a neighbouring cave the valuable gifts of the
Phaea