where the Ciconians
dwelt, who had helped the men of Troy. Their city they took, and in it
much plunder, slaves and oxen, and jars of fragrant wine, and might
have escaped unhurt, but that they stayed to hold revel on the shore.
For the Ciconians gathered their neighbours, being men of the same
blood, and did battle with the invaders, and drove them to their ship.
And when Ulysses numbered his men, he found that he had lost six out of
each ship.

Scarce had he set out again when the wind began to blow fiercely; so,
seeing a smooth sandy beach, they drave the ships ashore and dragged
them out of reach of the waves, and waited till the storm should abate.
And the third morning being fair, they sailed again, and journeyed
prosperously till they came to the very end of the great Peloponnesian
land, where Cape Malea looks out upon the southern sea. But contrary
currents baffled them, so that they could not round it, and the north
wind blew so strongly that they must fain drive before it. And on the
tenth day they came to the land where the lotus grows--a wondrous fruit,
of which whosoever eats cares not to see country or wife or children
again. Now the Lotus eaters, for so they call the people of the land,
were a kindly folk, and gave of the fruit to some of the sailors, not
meaning them any harm, but thinking it to be the best that they had to
give. These, when they had eaten, said that they would not sail any more
over the sea; which, when the wise Ulysses heard, he bade their comrades
bind them and carry them, sadly complaining, to the ships.

Then, the wind having abated, they took to their oars, and rowed for
many days till they came to the country where the Cyclopes dwell. Now, a
mile or so from the shore there was an island, very fair and fertile,
but no man dwells there or tills the soil, and in the island a harbour
where a ship may be safe from all winds, and at the head of the harbour
a stream falling from the rock, and whispering alders all about it. Into
this the ships passed safely, and were hauled up on the beach, and the
crews slept by them, waiting for the morning. And the next day they
hunted the wild goats, of which there was great store on the island, and
feasted right merrily on what they caught, with draughts of red wine
which they had carried off from the town of the Ciconians.

But on the morrow, Ulysses, for he was ever fond of adventure, and would
know of every land to which he came what manner of