cess:

'Nausicaa,' she said, 'the garments of your household are all uncared
for, and the time is near when, more than ever, you have need to have
much and beautiful raiment. Your marriage day will be soon. You will
have to have many garments ready by that time--garments to bring with
you to your husband's house, and garments to give to those who will
attend you at your wedding. There is much to be done, Nausicaa. Be ready
at the break of day, and take your maidens with you, and bring the
garments of your household to the river to be washed. I will be your
mate in the toil. Beg your father to give you a wagon with mules to
carry all the garments that we have need to wash.'

[Illustration]

So in her dream Pallas Athene spoke to the Princess in the likeness of
her girl-friend. Having put the task of washing into her mind, the
goddess left the Palace of the King and the country of the Phaeacians.

Nausicaa, when she rose thought upon her dream, and she went through the
Palace and found her father. He was going to the assembly of the
Phaeacians. She came to him, but she was shy about speaking of that which
had been in her dream--her marriage day--since her parents had not
spoken to her about such a thing. Saying that she was going to the river
to wash the garments of the household, she asked for a wagon and for
mules. 'So many garments have I lying soiled,' she said. 'Yes and thou
too, my father, should have fresh raiment when you go forth to the
assembly of the Phaeacians. And in our house are the two unwedded youths,
my brothers, who are always eager for new washed garments wherein to go
to dances.'

Her father smiled on her and said, 'The mules and wagon thou mayst have,
Nausicaa, and the servants shall get them ready for thee now.'

He called to the servants and bade them get ready the mules and the
wagon. Then Nausicaa gathered her maids together and they brought the
soiled garments of the household to the wagon. And her mother, so that
Nausicaa and her maids might eat while they were from home, put in a
basket filled with dainties and a skin of wine. Also she gave them a jar
of olive-oil so that they might rub themselves with oil when bathing in
the river.

Young Nausicaa herself drove the wagon. She mounted it and took the
whip in her hands and started the mules, and they went through fields
and by farms and came to the river-bank.

The girls brought the garments to the stream, and leaving them in the
shal