Day 4

After the very warm welcome with new clothes and the delicious food provided by Nausicaa, she came to me and said, “Up with you now, my friend, and off to town we go. I’ll see you into my wise father’s palace where, I promise you, you’ll meet all the best Phaeacians." I was extremely excited to finally have a place to eat, sleep, to talk to people; being lost at sea made me forget what it was like to be human again. As we were prepared to leave the stream and journey back to her home town, she told me nearly everything about it. She told me about the good people and the bad people. She even told me how to see the day of my return and rejoicing. She descriptively said, "She leans against a pillar, her ladies sit behind. And my father’s throne is drawn up close beside her; there he sits and takes his wine, a mortal like a god. Go past him, grasp my mother’s knees—if you want to see the day of your return, rejoicing, soon, even if your home’s a world away. If only the queen will take you to her heart, then there’s hope that you will see your loved ones, reach your own grand house, your native land at last.” I was willing to do as she said because this may be my only chance of reaching back to my family, whom I miss so very much. As we went on with our journey back to her hometown, we passed by the hallowed grove, which was sacred to Athena. At that place I said a prayer to Athena, "Grant that here among the Phaeacian people I may find some mercy and some love!” I truly hope that she heard my prayers.