to their starting-point. AEolus, however, refused
to help them again, for he said they were plainly accursed of the gods.

So they journeyed on as best they might, and came to the land of the
Laestrygonians. These people were of enormous strength and were
cannibals; but Ulysses and his men knowing nothing of this, sailed into
the narrow harbor. As they landed the cannibals rushed upon them and
slew them, and hurling rocks from the top of the narrow entrance, sank
those ships which would have escaped. Ulysses in his own ship managed to
force his way out, but all the other ships were taken and their crews
slain.

Then, in deep mourning, Ulysses sailed on till he came to the home of
Circe, a beautiful but wicked enchantress. Here he divided his crew into
two parties, and while one half rested, the others went to find what
place this was. Circe welcomed them in her palace, feasted them, and
gave them a magic drink. When they had drunk this, she touched them with
her wand, and they were turned into swine, all except one, who had
feared to enter the palace, and now returning, told Ulysses that the
others had disappeared. Then the hero arose and went alone to the
palace; but on the way he sought out a little herb which might render
the drink harmless. This he ate, and when Circe having given him the
deadly cup, would have turned him also into a brute, he drew his sword
as if to slay her. Terribly frightened, she besought mercy, and at his
request restored his men to their own forms.

Directed by her, Ulysses is said to have entered the abode of the dead,
and conversed with the ghosts of all the great warriors who had been
slain in the Trojan war, or who had died since. At last, when Circe had
no more wonders to show him, the wanderer left her, once more directed
on the road to Ithaca, and to some extent warned of the dangers which
beset the path.

First he had to pass the Sirens, beautiful but baleful maidens, who sat
on a rocky shore and sang a magic song so alluring, that men hearing it
let their ships drift on the rocks while listening, or threw themselves
into the sea to swim to the maidens, and were drowned. No man had ever
heard them and lived. Here the crafty one filled his companions' ears
with wax, so they could not hear the Sirens' song, and he bade them bind
him to the mast, so that he might hear it but could not go to them. This
was done, and they passed in safety. Ulysses heard the sweet song, and
raved and s