[474] In the end he deemed it best to
take to the woods, and he found one upon some high ground not far
from the water. There he crept beneath two shoots of olive that grew
from a single stock - the one ungrafted, while the other had been
grafted. No wind, however squally, could break through the cover they
afforded, nor could the sun's rays pierce them, nor the rain get
through them, so closely did they grow into one another. Odysseus
crept under these and began to make himself a bed to lie on, for
there was a great litter of dead leaves lying about - enough to make
a covering for two or three men even in hard winter weather. He was
glad enough to see this, so he laid himself down and heaped the
leaves all round him. Then, as one who lives alone in the country,
far from any neighbor, hides a brand as fire-seed in the ashes to
save himself from having to get a light elsewhere, even so did
Odysseus cover himself up with leaves; and Athena shed a sweet sleep
upon his eyes, closed his eyelids, and made him lose all memories of
his sorrows [493] .
Book 6
Scroll 6
[1] So here Odysseus slept, overcome by
sleep and toil; but Athena went off to the dmos and
city of the Phaeacians - a people who used to live in the fair town
of Hypereia, near the lawless Cyclopes. Now the Cyclopes were
stronger in force [bi] than they and plundered
them, so their king Nausithoos moved them thence and settled them in
Scheria, far from all other people. He surrounded the city with a
wall, built houses and temples, and divided the lands among his
people; but he was dead and gone to the house of Hades, and King
Alkinoos, whose counsels were inspired of heaven, was now reigning.
To his house, then, did Athena go in furtherance of the return
[nostos] of Odysseus.
[15] She went straight to the
beautifully decorated bedroom in which there slept a girl who was as
lovely as a goddess, Nausicaa, daughter to King Alkinoos. Two maid
servants were sleeping near her, both very pretty, one on either side
of the doorway, which was closed with well-made folding doors. Athena
took the form of the famous sea leader Dymas daughter, who was
a bosom friend of Nausicaa and just her own age; then, coming up to
the girl's bedside like a breath of wind, she hovered over her
head and said:
[25] "Nausicaa, what can your mother
have been about, to have such a lazy daughter? Here are your clothes
all lying in disorder, yet you are going to be married almost
immediately, and should not only be well dressed yourself, but should
find good clothes for those who attend you. This is the way to get
yourself a good name, and to make your father and mother proud of
you. Suppose, then, that we make tomorrow a washing day, and start at
daybreak. I will come and help you so that you may have everything
ready as soon as possible, for all the best young men throughout your
own dmos are courting you, and you are not going to
remain a young girl much longer. Ask your father, therefore, to have
a wagon and mules ready for us at daybreak, to take the rugs, robes,
and belts; and you can ride, too, which will be much pleasanter for
you than walking, for the washing-cisterns are some way from the
town."
[41] When she had said this Athena went
away to Olympus, which they say is the everlasting home of the gods.
Here no wind beats roughly, and neither rain nor snow can fall; but
it abides in everlasting sunshine and in a great peacefulness of
light, wherein the blessed gods are illumined for ever and ever. This
was the place to which the goddess went when she had given
instructions to the girl.