"Circe had instructed me to stop the ears of my men with wax as we
approached the isle of the Sirens, and to have myself tied to the boat
that I might not leap into the ocean to go to the beautiful maidens who
sang so entrancingly. We therefore escaped without adding our bones to
those on the isle of the Sirens, and came next to Scylla and Charybdis.
Charybdis is a frightful whirlpool. The sailor who steers too far away in
his anxiety to escape it, is seized by the six arms of the monster Scylla
and lifted to her cavern to be devoured. We avoided Charybdis; but as we
looked down into the abyss, pale with fear, six of my comrades were seized
by Scylla and snatched up to her cave.

"As we neared the Island of the Sun I told my comrades again of the
warning of Tiresias, and begged them to sail past without stopping. I was
met, however, by the bitterest reproaches, and at last consented to a
landing if they would bind themselves by a solemn oath not to touch the
cattle of the Sun. They promised, but when adverse winds prolonged our
stay and food became scarce, fools, madmen, they slew the herds, and in
spite of the terrible omens, the meat lowing on the spits, the skins
crawling, they feasted for six days. When, on the seventh, the tempest
ceased and we sailed away, we went to our destruction. I alone was saved,
clinging to the floating timbers for nine long days, until on the tenth I
reached Calypso's isle, Ogygia, where, out of love for me, the mighty
goddess cherished me for seven years."

The Phaeacians were entranced by this recital, and in addition to their
former gifts, heaped other treasures upon the "master of stratagems" that
he might return home a wealthy man. The swift ship was filled with his
treasures, and after the proper sacrifices and long farewells, the
chieftain embarked. It was morn when the ship arrived in Ithaca, and