him who draws near to listen to their song! He shall never see the
faces of his wife and children again, or feel their arms about his
neck, but there he shall perish, and there his bones shall rot.
Therefore take heed, and when thou drawest near the place stop the
ears of thy men with wax, and bid them bind thee fast with cords, that
thou mayest hear the song of the Sirens. And when that seducing melody
fills thine ears, thou wilt beg and implore thy comrades to set thee
free, that thou mayest draw near and have speech of the Sirens. Then
let them bind thee more firmly to the mast, and take to their oars,
and fly the enchanted rocks.

"This peril past, thou hast the choice of two different routes. One of
these will bring thee to the Wandering Isles, which stand, front to
front, with steep slippery sides of rock, running sheer down to the
sea. Between them lies a narrow way, which is the very gate of death.
For if aught living attempts to pass between, those rocky jaws close
upon it and grind it to powder. Only the doves which bear ambrosia to
Father Zeus can pass that awful strait, and one of these pays toll
with her life as she passes, but Zeus sends another to fill her place.
And one ship sailed safely through, even the famous _Argo_ when she
bore Jason and his crew on their voyage from the land of Æetes. All
others when they essayed the task perished, and were brought to naught
in a whirlwind of foam and fire.

"But if thou takest the other way thou wilt come to another strait,
guarded day and night by two sleepless sentinels, Scylla and
Charybdis. On one side thereof towers a lofty peak, shrouded, even in
the noon of summer, in clouds and thick darkness. No mortal man could
climb that steep and slippery rock, not though he had twenty hands and
twenty feet; for the side is smooth as polished marble, and in the