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fourth filled a great caldron with water, and put fire under it. And when it boiled, she mixed it with water in the bath, and the bath took away the weariness from my limbs. Then the housekeeper brought me wheaten bread, and set many dainties on the table; and Circe 5 bade me eat; but I sat silent and sorrowful, having other thoughts in my mind.

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"And when the goddess perceived that I was silent and ate not, she said: Why dost thou sit, Ulysses, as though thou wert dumb? Fearest thou any deceit of 10

mine? gods?'

Have I not sworn the oath that binds the

"Then I made answer, 'Nay; who could think of meat and drink, when such things had befallen his companions?'

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"Then Circe led the way, holding her wand in her hand, and opened the doors of the sties, and drove out the swine that had been men. Then she rubbed on each another mighty drug, and the bristles fell from their bodies and they became men, only younger and 20 fairer than before. And when they saw me, they clung to me and wept for joy, and Circe herself was moved with pity."

-A. J. CHURCH: The Story of the Odyssey.

spoil, plunder, treasure taken by force; en chant'ment, the magic art of changing the form of persons or things; be witched', enchanted; mar'vel, wonder; de ceit', trickery; cal'dron, a large kettle.

1. Who was Circe? What is meant by her having the "art of enchantment"? 2. Explain "I shook lots." What do we sometimes do that corresponds to this? 3. Describe what the men saw as they approached the palace of Circe. 4. What is a loom? What is meant by "plying it"? 5. What enchantment did Circe practice upon the men? 6. How did Ulysses escape the enchantment? 7. Who was Hermes and why did he carry a golden wand? 8. What traits of character does Ulysses show in his search for the men who had been enchanted? 9. Recall the prayer of the Cyclops. How was it answered ?

Oral Composition. - Tell the story of The Bag of Winds. Notice which of your classmates tells it in the most interesting way.

Word Study: Words that sound alike but have different meanings. There are no two words that pupils are more apt to confuse in written work than their and there.

1. They launched their ships.

2. He went there to seek his comrades.

3. There is a dwelling on the island.

Whenever the word means "belonging to" it is written their. What does the word there mean in the second sentence? Whenever the word means "in that place" it is written there. Notice that here and there have similar meanings and similar forms.

There is also frequently used in an indefinite way in a sentence, especially to introduce it. See the third of the numbered sentences

above.

Written Exercise. Fill in the blanks below with the proper word their or there.

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1. Ulysses and his men started again on

2. Long they dwelt

3.

in that distant land.

homeward voyage.

was a man in our town, and he was wondrous wise.

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8. Where your treasure is, will your heart be also.
9. is many a slip 'twixt the cup and the lip.

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THE RETURN OF ULYSSES

[The whole Iliad and Odyssey have been charmingly and accurately retold by A. J. Church in his two volumes, The Story of the Iliad and The Story of the Odyssey. Children of this grade will be interested in having other passages read to them, those, for instance, dealing with Nausikaa and the return of Ulysses, in the Odyssey. Some other passages from Bryant's translation of either poem may be read them.]

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ULYSSES and his little company (for the fleet was now reduced to a single ship) stayed a year with Circe, and then voyaged to the shadowy land of the dead, where an ancient prophet foretold that they should have still further trials. Then they started again on their homeward voy- 5 age. First they came to the isle of the sirens, maidens who sang so sweetly that mariners turned their ships ashore, only to be wrecked and perish miserably. But this danger the crafty Ulysses avoided, for he filled the ears of the sailors with wax and had them bind him hand 10 and foot until the island was past.

Then they came to the land where the oxen of the sun god were pastured, and some of these oxen the sailors killed, disobeying the command of Ulysses, and from this sprang greater trouble. For a fierce storm arose, destroy-15

ing the ship, and casting Ulysses alone on the island of the goddess Calypso.

Long he dwelt there, in that magic, and lonely, and distant land; but at last he built himself a raft, and again 5 began his perilous journey. After long sailing he was cast on the island of the Phæacians, and their king, after hearing his sad tale of wandering, sent him homeward in a good ship. In truth, the prayer of the Cyclops was answered. Ulysses came alone to his native land, all his 10 comrades lost, and found sore trouble in his house. A score of greedy princes had seized his property and were roughly wooing his wife, who after twenty years could scarcely believe he was still alive. Indeed, the only living thing that recognized him at once was his dog, strength to wag his

15 then dying of old age, who had just

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tail and feebly welcome his master. But by the help of his son and a few faithful servants, and by his own strength and craft, Ulysses destroyed the greedy and wicked princes and came at last to the possession of his own.

Thus ends one of the most charming poems in all the literature of the world, which men have loved for thousands of years, because it told of a brave and lonely wanderer, who found adventures in many lands and finally won his way homeward.

G. R. CARPENTER.

[The Odyssey was written in verse, and though it is not difficult to retell the story in prose, it is impossible to translate it into equally beautiful English verse. Here are a few lines from the Odyssey,

however, as translated by the American poet, Bryant. They tell how Ulysses, when first he landed on his native shore, met the goddess Athene, or Pallas, as he calls her, and how she helped him, first by disguising him in order that he might return to his home unrecognized and so take the suitors by surprise, and next by sum moning his young son, Telemachus, to aid his father in destroying his enemies.]

AND then the goddess, blue-eyed Pallas, said.
"O nobly born and versed in many wiles,
Son of Laertes! now the hour is come
To think how thou shalt lay avenging hands
Upon the shameless crew who, in thy house,
For three years past have made themselves its lords
And wooed thy noble wife and brought her gifts."
Ulysses the sagacious answered her:-
"Now counsel me how I may be avenged.
Be ever by my side, and strengthen me
With courage, as thou didst when we o'erthrew
The towery crest of Ilium. Would thou wert
Still my ally, as then! I would engage,
O blue-eyed Pallas, with three hundred foes,
If thou, dread goddess, wouldst but counsel me."
And then the blue-eyed Pallas spake again:
"I will be present with thee. When we once
Begin the work, thou shalt not leave my sight;
And many a haughty suitor with his blood
And brains shall stain thy spacious palace floor.
Now will I change thy aspect, so that none

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