hus,--for he was a wary person, and let no
token of harm escape his notice,--"my pretty bird, who sent you hither?
And what is the message which you bring?"

"Peep, peep, pe--weep!" replied the bird, very sorrowfully.

Then it flew towards the edge of the cliff, and looked round at them, as
if exceedingly anxious that they should return whence they came.
Eurylochus and a few of the others were inclined to turn back. They could
not help suspecting that the purple bird must be aware of something
mischievous that would befall them at the palace, and the knowledge of
which affected its airy spirit with a human sympathy and sorrow. But the
rest of the voyagers, snuffing up the smoke from the palace kitchen,
ridiculed the idea of returning to the vessel. One of them (more brutal
than his fellows, and the most notorious gormandizer in the whole crew)
said such a cruel and wicked thing, that I wonder the mere thought did not
turn him into a wild beast in shape, as he already was in his nature.

"This troublesome and impertinent little fowl," said he, "would make a
delicate titbit to begin dinner with. Just one plump morsel, melting away
between the teeth. If he comes within my reach, I'll catch him, and give
him to the palace cook to be roasted on a skewer."

The words were hardly out of his mouth, before the purple bird flew away,
crying, "Peep, peep, pe--weep," more dolorously than ever.

"That bird," remarked Eurylochus, "knows more than we do about what awaits
us at the palace."

"Come on, then," cried his comrades, "and we'll soon know as much as he
does."

The party, accordingly, went onward through the green and pleasant wood.
Every little while they caught new glimpses of the marble palace, which
looked more and more beautiful the nearer they approached it. They soon
entered a broad pathway, which seemed to be very neatly kept, and which
went winding along with streaks of sunshine falling across it, and specks
of light quivering among the deepest shadows that fell from the lofty
trees. It was bordered, too, with a great many sweet-smelling flowers,
such as the mariners had never seen before. So rich and beautiful they
were that, if the shrubs grew wild here and were native in the soil, then
this island was surely the flower-garden of the whole earth; or, if
transplanted from some other clime, it must have been from the Happy
Islands that lay towards the golden sunset.

"There has been a great deal of pains fooli