go to their own
homes.

Before they went the King promised Odysseus a safe convoy back to his
own land.

When he was left alone with the King and Queen, the latter said to
him: "Tell us who thou art. I myself made the clothing that thou
wearest. From whence didst thou get it?"

Then Odysseus told her of his imprisonment in the island of Calypso,
of his escape, of the terrible storm that shattered his raft, and of
how at length he reached the shore and met with Nausicaa.

"It was wrong of my daughter not to bring thee to the palace when she
came with her maids," said the King.

But Odysseus told him why it was that Nausicaa had bade him stay
behind.

"Be not vexed with this blameless maiden," he said. "Truly she is the
sweetest and the fairest maiden I ever saw."

Then Odysseus went to the bed that the servants had prepared for him.
They had spread fair purple blankets over it, and when it was ready
they stood beside it with their torches blazing, golden and red.

"Up now, stranger, get thee to sleep," said they. "Thy bed is made."

Sleep was very sweet to Odysseus that night as he lay in the soft bed
with warm blankets over him. He was no longer tossed and beaten by
angry seas, no longer wet and cold and hungry. The roar of furious
waves did not beat in his ears, for all was still in the great halls
where the flickering firelight played on the frieze of blue, and
turned the brass walls into gold.

Next day the King gave a great entertainment for Odysseus. There were
boxing and wrestling and leaping and running, and in all of these the
brothers of Nausicaa were better than all others who tried.

But when they came to throw the weight, and begged Odysseus to try, he
cast a stone heavier than all others, far beyond where the Phaeacians
had thrown.

That night there was feasting in the royal halls, and the King's
minstrels played and sang songs of the taking of Troy, and of the
bravery of the great Odysseus. And Odysseus listened until his heart
could bear no more, and tears trickled down his cheeks. Only the King
saw him weep. He wondered much why Odysseus wept, and at last he asked
him.

So Odysseus told the King his name, and the whole story of his
adventures since he had sailed away from Troyland.

Then the King and Queen and their courtiers gave rich gifts to
Odysseus. A beautiful silver-studded sword was the King's gift to him.

Nausicaa gave him nothing, but she stood and gazed at him in his
purp