d on the hearth there was a great fire
burning, and from afar, through the isle, was smelt the fragrance of
cleft cedar blazing, and of sandal wood. And the nymph within was
singing with a sweet voice as she fared to and fro before the loom, and
wove with a shuttle of gold. All round about the cave there was a wood
blossoming, alder and poplar and sweet smelling cypress. Therein roosted
birds long of wing--owls and falcons and chattering sea-crows, which
have their business in the waters. And lo! there, about the hollow cave,
trailed a gadding garden vine, all rich with clusters. And fountains,
four set orderly, were running with clear water hard by one another,
turned each to his own course. Around soft meadows bloomed of violets
and parsley; yea, even a deathless God who came thither might wonder at
the sight and be glad at heart.

There the messenger, the slayer of Argos, stood and wondered. Now when
he had gazed at all with wonder, he went into the wide cave; nor did
Calypso, that fair Goddess, fail to know him when she saw him face to
face; for the Gods use not to be strange one to another, not though one
have his habitation far away. But he found not Ulysses, the
great-hearted, within the cave, who sat weeping on the shore even as
aforetime, straining his soul with tears and groans and griefs, and as
he wept he looked wistfully over the unharvested deep. And Calypso, that
fair Goddess, questioned Hermes, when she had made him sit on a bright
shining star:

'Wherefore, I pray thee, Hermes of the golden wand, hast thou come
hither, worshipful and welcome, whereas as of old thou wert not wont to
visit me? Tell me all thy thought; my heart is set on fulfilling it, if
fulfil it I may, and if it hath been fulfilled in the counsel of fate.
But now follow me further, that I may set before thee the entertainment
of strangers.'

Therewith the goddess spread a table with ambrosia and set it by him,
and mixed the ruddy nectar. So the messenger, the slayer of Argos, did
eat and drink. Now after he had supped and comforted his soul with food,
at the last he answered, and spake to her on this wise:

'Thou makest question of me on my coming, a Goddess of a God, and I will
tell thee this my saying truly, at thy command. 'Twas Zeus that bade me
come hither, by no will of mine; nay, who of his free will would speed
over such a wondrous space of sea whereby is no city of mortals that do
sacrifice to the gods. He saith that thou h