must devour thine own heart and be lonely till thou diest. Therefore
I breathe into thy heart a sweet forgetfulness of every sorrow, and I
breathe love into thee for her who was thy first love in the beginning
of thy days.

"For Helen is living yet upon the earth. And I will send thee on the
quest of Helen, and thou shalt again take joy in war and wandering. Thou
shalt find her in a strange land, among a strange people, in a strife of
gods and men; and the wisest and bravest of man shall sleep at last in
the arms of the fairest of women. But learn this, Odysseus; thou must
set thy heart on no other woman, but only on Helen.

"And I give thee a sign to know her by in a land of magic, and among
women that deal in sorceries.

"_On the breast of Helen a jewel shines, a great star-stone, the gift I
gave her on her wedding-night when she was bride to Menelaus. From that
stone fall red drops like blood, and they drip on her vestment, and
there vanish, and do not stain it._

"By the Star of Love shalt thou know her; by the star shalt thou swear
to her; and if thou knowest not the portent of the Bleeding Star, or if
thou breakest that oath, never in this life, Odysseus, shalt thou win
the golden Helen! And thine own death shall come from the water--the
swiftest death--that the saying of the dead prophet may be fulfilled.
Yet first shalt thou lie in the arms of the golden Helen."

The Wanderer answered:

"Queen, how may this be, for I am alone on a seagirt isle, and I have no