Page 223 - the-odyssey

see if the crew have gone off with any of them.’
He counted his goodly coppers and cauldrons, his gold
and all his clothes, but there was nothing missing; still
he kept grieving about not being in his own country, and
wandered up and down by the shore of the sounding sea
bewailing his hard fate. Then Minerva came up to him dis-
guised as a young shepherd of delicate and princely mien,
with a good cloak folded double about her shoulders; she
had sandals on her comely feet and held a javelin in her
hand. Ulysses was glad when he saw her, and went straight
up to her.
‘My friend,’ said he, ‘you are the first person whom I
have met with in this country; I salute you, therefore, and
beg you to be well disposed towards me. Protect these my
goods, and myself too, for I embrace your knees and pray
to you as though you were a god. Tell me, then, and tell me
truly, what land and country is this? Who are its inhabit-
ants? Am I on an island, or is this the sea board of some
continent?’
Minerva answered, ‘Stranger, you must be very simple,
or must have come from somewhere a long way off, not to
know what country this is. It is a very celebrated place, and
everybody knows it East and West. It is rugged and not a
good driving country, but it is by no means a bad island for
what there is of it. It grows any quantity of corn and also
wine, for it is watered both by rain and dew; it breeds cattle
also and goats; all kinds of timber grow here, and there are
watering places where the water never runs dry; so, sir, the
name of Ithaca is known even as far as Troy, which I under-

The Odyssey