le robes and felt more sure than ever that he was the handsomest
and the greatest hero she had ever seen.

"Farewell, stranger," she said to him when the hour came for her to go
to bed, for she knew she would not see him on the morrow. "Farewell,
stranger. Sometimes think of me when thou art in thine own land."

Then said Odysseus: "All the days of my life I shall remember thee,
Nausicaa, for thou hast given me my life."

Next day a company of the Phaeacians went down to a ship that lay by
the seashore, and with them went Odysseus. They carried the treasures
that had been given to him and put them on board, and spread a rug on
the deck for him. There Odysseus lay down, and as soon as the splash
of the oars in the water and the rush and gush of the water from the
bow of the boat told him that the ship was sailing speedily to his
dear land of Ithaca, he fell into a sound sleep. Onward went the ship,
so swiftly that not even a hawk flying after its prey could have kept
pace with her. When the bright morning stars arose, they were close to
Ithaca. The sailors quickly ran their vessel ashore and gently carried
the sleeping Odysseus, wrapped round in his rug of bright purple, to
where a great olive-tree bent its gray leaves over the sand. They laid
him under the tree, put his treasures beside him, and left him, still
heavy with slumber. Then they climbed into their ship and sailed away.

While Odysseus slept the goddess Athene shed a thick mist round him.
When he awoke, the sheltering heavens, the long paths, and the trees
in bloom all looked strange to him when seen through the grayness of
the mist.

"Woe is me!" he groaned. "The Phaeacians promised to bring me to
Ithaca, but they have brought me to a land of strangers, who will
surely attack me and steal my treasures."

But while he was wondering what he should do, the goddess Athene came
to him. She was tall and fair and noble to look upon, and she smiled
upon Odysseus with her kind gray eyes.

Under the olive-tree she sat down beside him, and told him all that
had happened in Ithaca while he was away, and all that he must do to
win back his kingdom and his Queen.

THE ARGONAUTS

ADAPTED BY MARY MACGREGOR

I

HOW THE CENTAUR TRAINED THE HEROES

Now I have a tale to tell of heroes who sailed away into a distant
land, to win themselves renown for ever in the adventures of the
Golden Fleece.

And what was the Golden Fleece?

It was the fleece