ever touches the ground; so they
in turn one from another sent the ship through the air over the waves,
as it sped on ever away from the rocks; and round them the water spouted
and foamed. And lord Hephaestus himself standing on the summit of a
smooth rock and resting his massy shoulder on the handle of his hammer,
beheld them, and the spouse of Zeus beheld them as she stood above the
gleaming heaven; and she threw her arms round Athena, such fear seized
her as she gazed. And as long as the space of a day is lengthened out in
springtime, so long a time did they toil, heaving the ship between the
loud-echoing rocks; then again the heroes caught the wind and sped
onward; and swiftly they passed the mead of Thrinacia, where the kine of
Helios fed. There the nymphs, like sea-mews, plunged beneath the depths,
when they had fulfilled the behests of the spouse of Zeus. And at the
same time the bleating of sheep came to the heroes through the mist and
the lowing of kine, near at hand, smote their ears. And over the dewy
leas Phaethusa, the youngest of the daughters of Helios, tended the
sheep, bearing in her hand a silver crook; while Lampetia, herding the
kine, wielded a staff of glowing orichalcum[1] as she followed. These
kine the heroes saw feeding by the river's stream, over the plain and
the water-meadow; not one of them was dark in hue but all were white as
milk and glorying in their horns of gold. So they passed them by in the
day-time, and when night came on they were cleaving a great sea-gulf,
rejoicing, until again early rising dawn threw light upon their course.

[Footnote 1: A fabulous metal, resembling gold in appearance.]

Fronting the Ionian gulf there lies an island in the Ceraunian sea, rich
in soil, with a harbour on both sides, beneath which lies the sickle, as
legend saith--grant me grace, O Muses, not willingly do I tell this tale
of olden days--wherewith Cronos pitilessly mutilated his father; but
others call it the reaping-hook of Demeter, goddess of the nether world.
For Demeter once dwelt in that island, and taught the Titans to reap the
ears of corn, all for the love of Macris. Whence it is called
Drepane,[1] the sacred nurse of the Phaeacians; and thus the Phaeacians
themselves are by birth of the blood of Uranus. To them came Argo, held
fast by many toils, borne by the breezes from the Thrinacian sea; and
Alcinous and his people with kindly sacrifice gladly welcomed their
coming; and over them all t