child could show thee the way, for there is none like it in all the
city."

[Illustration: Odysseus and Nausicaä]

So saying, Nausicaä drove on, leaving Odysseus where he was. He soon
found the temple, and going in knelt down and prayed to the goddess to
continue her favour. When he thought that Nausicaä had had time to
reach home, he rose and went into the city. The road lay along a
narrow causeway, which connected the city with the mainland, and on
either side was a sheltered haven, with ships drawn up on the beach.
Passing through the gates he came next to the place of assembly, in
front of a temple of Poseidon, with a circle of massive stones bedded
deeply in the earth. Wherever he looked he saw signs of a busy
seafaring people--masts, and oars, and great coils of rope--and his
ears were filled with the sound of saw and hammer from the
shipwrights' yards.

II

As he stood thus gazing about him, he saw a young maiden coming
towards him, carrying a pitcher. He inquired of her the way to the
house of Alcinous, and she bade him follow her, as she was going that
way. "My father's house," she said, "is close to the house which thou
seekest. But thou art a stranger, I perceive, and not of this land;
walk therefore warily, and regard no man, for the Phæacians love not
the face of the stranger, nor are they given to hospitality. Their
home is the deep, and their ships are as swift as a bird--swift as a
thought--for they are the favourites of Poseidon."