hus, I slew, because he sought to deprive me of my share in the
Trojan spoil. For he bore a grudge against me, because I would not pay
court to his father at Troy, but made a party of my own, and fought
for my own hand. For him I laid an ambush, and slew him in a secret
place, under cover of night. Then I fled down to the sea, and bribed
the crew of a Phoenician ship to carry me and my goods to Pylos. But
the storm wind drove them out of their course, and they put in here
for shelter. Sore battered and weary we landed here, having hardly
escaped with our lives; and while I slept they brought my goods
ashore, and sailed away for Sidon, leaving me alone with my sorrow."

Intent on his tale, Odysseus had not noticed the sudden change which
had come over his hearer; for his eyes had been turned away, as he
strove to spell out the features of the country, which still seemed
unfamiliar. Now he looked round again, and instead of that dainty
youth he saw a stately female form, tall and fair, in aspect like the
mighty goddess Athene. And in truth it was the daughter of Zeus
herself who answered him, smiling and touching him with a playful
gesture. "Thou naughty rogue!" she said, "wilt thou never forget thy
cunning shifts, wherein none can surpass thee, no, not the gods
themselves? Yea, thou hast a knavish wit, and no man can equal thee in
craft, as no god can rival me. Yet for all thy skill thou knewest me
not for Pallas Athene, who is ever near thee in all thy trials, and
made thee dear to all the Phaeacians. And now am I come to help thee
hide thy goods, and weave a plot to ensnare the foes who beset thy
house. Thou hast still much to endure, before thy final triumph, and
thou must enter thy halls as a stranger, and suffer many things by the
hands of violent men."

"It is hard, O goddess," answered Odysseus, "for a mortal man to know
thee, keen though he be of wit; for thou appearest in a hundred
shapes. Yet well I know that thou wast kind to me in days of old, when
I fought with the Greeks at Troy. But since that time I have never
seen thee, in all my wanderings and perils, save once in Phaeacia. Now
tell me truly, I implore thee, what is this place where I am
wandering? Thou saidst 'twas Ithaca, but in that I think thou speakest
falsely, with intent to deceive me; or is this indeed my native land?"

"Ever the same Odysseus as of old," said Athene, smiling again,
"cautious and wary, and hard to convince. Verily thou art a m