They placed a robe and tunic there for
clothing, they gave him in the golden flask the liquid oil, and bade him
bathe in the stream's currents.
* * * * *
The women went away.... And now, with water from the stream, royal
Odysseus washed his skin clean of the salt which clung about his back
and his broad shoulders, and wiped from his head the foam brought by the
barren sea; and when he had thoroughly bathed and oiled himself and had
put on the clothing which the chaste maiden gave, Athene, the daughter
of Zeus, made him taller than before and stouter to behold, and she made
the curling locks to fall around his head as on the hyacinth flower. As
when a man lays gold on silver,--some skillful man whom Hephaestus and
Pallas Athene have trained in every art, and he fashions graceful work;
so did she cast a grace upon his head and shoulders. He walked apart
along the shore, and there sat down, beaming with grace and beauty. The
maid observed; then to her fair-haired waiting-women said:--
"Hearken, my white-armed women, while I speak. Not without purpose on
the part of all the gods that hold Olympus is this man's meeting with
the godlike Phaeacians. A while ago, he really seemed to me ill-looking,
but now he is like the gods who hold the open sky. Ah, might a man like
this be called my husband, having his home here, and content to stay!
But give, my women, to the stranger food and drink."
She spoke, and very willingly they heeded and obeyed, and set beside
Odysseus food and drink.
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