gobbled up the food. They sat on golden thrones, to be sure;
but they behaved like pigs in a sty; and, if they had had their
wits about them, they might have guessed that this was the
opinion of their beautiful hostess and her maidens. It brings a
blush into my face to reckon up, in my own mind, what mountains
of meat and pudding, and what gallons of wine, these two and
twenty guzzlers and gormandizers ate and drank. They forgot all
about their homes, and their wives and children, and all about
Ulysses, and everything else, except this banquet, at which
they wanted to keep feasting forever. But at length they began
to give over, from mere incapacity to hold any more.

"That last bit of fat is too much for me," said one.

"And I have not room for another morsel," said his next
neighbor, heaving a sigh. "What a pity! My appetite is as sharp
as ever."

In short, they all left off eating, and leaned back on their
thrones, with such a stupid and helpless aspect as made them
ridiculous to behold. When their hostess saw this, she laughed
aloud; so did her four damsels; so did the two and twenty
serving men that bore the dishes, and their two and twenty
fellows that poured out the wine. And the louder they all
laughed, the more stupid and helpless did the two and twenty
gormandizers look. Then the beautiful woman took her stand in
the middle of the saloon, and stretching out a slender rod (it
had been all the while in her hand, although they never noticed
it till this moment), she turned it from one guest to another,
until each had felt it pointed at himself. Beautiful as her