Village books

'"
This passage could never have been written by the local bard, who
was in great measure dependent on Nausicaa's family; he would never
speak thus of his patron's daughter; either the passage is
Nausicaa's apology for herself, written by herself, or it is pure
invention, and this last, considering the close adherence to the
actual topography of Trapani on the Sicilian Coast, and a great deal
else that I cannot lay before you here, appears to me improbable.
Nausicaa then gives Ulysses directions by which he can find her
father's house. "When you have got past the courtyard," she says,
"go straight through the main hall, till you come to my mother's
room. You will find her sitting by the fire and spinning her purple
wool by firelight. She will make a lovely picture as she leans back
against a column with her maids ranged behind her. Facing her
stands my father's seat in which he sits and topes like an immortal
god. Never mind him, but go up to my mother and lay your hands upon
her knees, if you would be forwarded on your homeward voyage.


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