perfumed garments, a full store of provisions, and saw him set forth
joyfully upon the unknown deep.

For seventeen days his journey was a prosperous one; but on the eighteenth
day, just as the land of the Phaeacians came in sight. Neptune returned
from Ethiopia, and angry at what the gods had contrived to do in his
absence, determined to make the hero suffer as much as possible before he
attained the promised end of his troubles.

Soon a great storm arose and washed Ulysses from the raft. Clinging to its
edge, buffeted here and there by the angry waves, he would have suffered
death had not a kind sea nymph urged him to lay aside his heavy garments,
leave the raft, and binding a veil that she gave him about his chest, swim
to the land of the Phaeacians. The coast was steep and rocky, but he found
at last a little river, and swimming up it, landed, and fell asleep among
some warm heaps of dried leaves.

The Phaeacians were a people closely allied to the gods, to whom they were
very dear. They had at one time been neighbors of the Cyclops, from whose
rudeness they had suffered so much that they were compelled to seek a
distant home. They were a civilized people, who had achieved great results
as sailors, having remarkably swift and well-equipped ships.

To the Princess Nausicaa, beautiful as a goddess, Pallas appeared in a
dream the night that Ulysses lay sleeping on the isle, warning her that
since her wedding day was near at hand, when all would need fresh
garments, it was fitting that she should ask her father's permission to
take the garments of the household to the river side to wash them.

Nausicaa's father willingly granted his permission, and ordered the strong