Khan Salinder
Book 7
Nausicaa reaches the house of her father, King Alcinous. Meanwhile, Minerva (in the form of a small girl holding a jug) takes Ulysses to the house of King Alcinous, but she covers Ulysses in a thick cloud of darkness so that the Phaecians wouldn’t be able to see him on their way there.
When they reached Alcinous’ house, Ulysses entered the house and met the Queen, Arete. He then laid his hands upon the knees of the queen and prayed to her to help home to his own country. However, Queen Arete was confused because Ulysses was wearing clothes that she herself had made with her maids. When she asked Ulysses where he had gotten his clothes from, Ulysses answered that it would be a long story, but he told her anyway. He told her how he had come from the island called Ogygian, where he had stayed with Calypso. Seven years later, Calypso sent Ulysses away to the land of the Phaecians. As Ulysses was sailing there, Neptune had raised a big storm against him, and so Ulysses had to swim to the land of the Phaecians. There, he met Nausicaa, queen Arete’s daughter. Ulysses explained to Arete that it was Nausicaa, her daughter who had given him the clothes that he now wore. When Queen Arete and King ALcinous saw that Ulysses was trustworthy, they accepted to take him home to his own country.
