HOW TROY WAS TAKEN. 21

parted and had interviews with the shades of the
dead. He afterwards passed in safety through the
frightful gulf of Scylla and Charybdis, and visited
the wind-god Afolus, who gave him a fair wind
home, and all the foul winds tied up inabag. But
the curious Greeks untied the bag, and the ship was
blown far from her course. His followers after-
wards killed the sacred oxen of the sun, for which
they were punished by being wrecked. All were
lost except Ulysses, who floated on a mast to the
island of Calypso. With this charming nymph he
dwelt for seven years.

Finally, at the command of the gods, Calypso set
her willing captive adrift on a raft of trees. This
raft was shattered in a storm, but Ulysses swam to
the island of Pheacia, where he was rescued by
Nausicaa, the king’s daughter, and brought to the
palace. Thence, in a Pheacian ship, he finally
reached Ithaca.

Here new adventures awaited him. He sought
his palace disguised as an old beggar, so that of
all there, only his old dog knew him. The fnithful
animal staggered to his feet, feebly expressed his
joy, and fell dead. Telemachus had now returned,
and led his disguised father into the palace, where
the suitors were at their revels. Penelope, instructed
what to do, now brought forth the bow of Ulysses,
and offered her hand to any one of the suitors who
could bend it. It was tried by them all, but tried
in vain. Then the seeming beggar took in his hand
the stout, ashen bow, bent it with ease, and with
wonderful skill sent an arrow hurtling through the