Page 245 - the-odyssey

Ulysses were the leaders, but I was in command also, for the
other two would have it so. When we had come up to the
wall of the city we crouched down beneath our armour and
lay there under cover of the reeds and thick brushwood that
grew about the swamp. It came on to freeze with a North
wind blowing; the snow fell small and fine like hoar frost,
and our shields were coated thick with rime. The others had
all got cloaks and shirts, and slept comfortably enough with
their shields about their shoulders, but I had carelessly left
my cloak behind me, not thinking that I should be too cold,
and had gone off in nothing but my shirt and shield. When
the night was two-thirds through and the stars had shifted
their places, I nudged Ulysses who was close to me with my
elbow, and he at once gave me his ear.
‘‘Ulysses,’ said I, ‘this cold will be the death of me, for
I have no cloak; some god fooled me into setting off with
nothing on but my shirt, and I do not know what to do.’
‘Ulysses, who was as crafty as he was valiant, hit upon
the following plan:
‘‘Keep still,’ said he in a low voice, ‘or the others will hear
you.’ Then he raised his head on his elbow.
‘‘My friends,’ said he, ‘I have had a dream from heaven in
my sleep. We are a long way from the ships; I wish some one
would go down and tell Agamemnon to send us up more
men at once.’
‘On this Thoas son of Andraemon threw off his cloak
and set out running to the ships, whereon I took the cloak
and lay in it comfortably enough till morning. Would that I
were still young and strong as I was in those days, for then

The Odyssey