Her mother got
ready a nice basket of provisions with all sorts of good things, and
a goatskin full of wine. The princess now got into the waggon, and
her mother gave her a golden cruse of oil that she and her maids
might anoint themselves.
"Then Nausicaa took the whip and reins and gave the mules a touch
which sent them off at a good pace. They pulled without nagging,
and carried not only Nausicaa and her wash of clothes, but the women
also who were with her.
"When they got to the river they went to the washing pools, through
which even in summer there ran enough pure water to wash any
quantity of linen, no matter how dirty. Here they unharnessed the
mules and turned them out to feed in the sweet juicy grass that grew
by the river-side. They got the clothes out of the waggon, brought
them to the water, and vied with one another in treading upon them
and banging them about to get the dirt out of them. When they had
got them quite clean, they laid them out by the seaside where the
waves had raised a high beach of shingle, and set about washing and
anointing themselves with olive oil.
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