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He ran a wall round about the city, built houses and temples, and allotted the lands among his people; but he was gathered to his fathers, and the good king Alcinous was now reigning. To his palace then Minerva hastened that she might help Ulysses to get home. "She went straight to the painted bedroom of Nausicaa, who was daughter to King Alcinous, and lovely as a goddess.
She was ashamed, besides, of the sun-bonnet that so well became her, and ashamed of her bare arms, which were her greatest beauty. 'Nausicaa, said Mr. Archer at last, 'I find you like Nausicaa. 'And who was she? asked Nance, and laughed in spite of herself, an empty and embarrassed laugh, that sounded in Mr. Archer's ears, indeed, like music, but to her own like the last grossness of rusticity.
"As for you, my son," he said to the waiter, who stayed to serve the dinner, "below is a porter's wife; she lives in a lair where she sometimes cooks, as in other days Nausicaa washed, for pure amusement. Find her, implore her goodness; interest her, young man, in the warmth of these dishes.
No doubt one of the most charming creations in all poetry is Nausicaa, the white-armed daughter of King Alcinous. There is no scene, no picture, in the heroic times more pleasing than the meeting of Ulysses with this damsel on the wild seashore of Scheria, where the Wanderer had been tossed ashore by the tempest.
Now it happened that the very night on which Ulysses was cast ashore on the Phaeacian island, and while he lay sleeping on his bed of leaves, Nausicaa, the daughter of the king, had a dream sent by Minerva, reminding her that her wedding-day was not far distant, and that it would be but a prudent preparation for that event to have a general washing of the clothes of the family.
But first listen to what I would say. While we are going through the fields and by the farms walk thou behind, keeping near the wagon. But when we enter the ways of the City, go no further with us. People might speak unkindly of me if they saw me with a stranger such as thou. They might say, "Who does Nausicaa bring to her father's house? Someone she would like to make her husband, most likely."
And Odysseus of many counsels answered her saying: 'Nausicaa, daughter of great-hearted Alcinous, yea, may Zeus, the thunderer, the lord of Here, grant me to reach my home and see the day of my returning; so would I, even there, do thee worship as to a god, all my days for evermore, for thou, lady, hast given me my life. He spake and sat him in the high seat by king Alcinous.
You will observe that though Nausicaa dreams that she is going to be married shortly, and that all the best young men of Scheria are in love with her, she does not dream that she has fallen in love with any one of them in particular, and that thus every preparation is made for her getting married except the selection of the bridegroom.
The high-roofed house, the brazen threshold, the polished chest, the silver-studded sword, the purple robes, the tawny oxen, the hollow ships, the tapering oars, the wine-dark sea, the rosy-fingered dawn, the gold-throned morning, Hector of the nodding plume, the white-armed Nausicaa, so in long procession moves the spectacle.
“She will be alongside then in a moment,” was his answer, “and the beak is gone?” “Gone, and ten of our best rowers are dead.” Themistocles drew down the helmet, covering his face. “Euge! Since the choice is to grapple or fly, we had better grapple.” The governor shifted again the steering paddles. The head of the Nausicaä fell away toward her attacker, but no signal was given to quicken the oars.
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