"Nay," said Ulysses, "what is this that thou sayest? Shall I pass
in a raft over the dreadful sea, over which even ships go not
without harm? I will not go against thy will; but thou must swear
the great oath of the gods that thou plannest no evil against me."

Then Calypso smiled and said: "These are strange words. I swear
that I plan no harm against thee, but only such good as I would
ask myself, did I need it; for indeed my heart is not of iron, but
rather full of compassion."

Then they two went to the cave and sat down to meat, and she set
before him food such as mortal men eat, but she herself ate
ambrosia and drank nectar. And afterwards she said:--

"Why art thou so eager for thy home? Surely if thou knewest all
the trouble that awaits thee, thou wouldst not go, but wouldst
rather dwell with me. And though thou desirest all the day long to
see thy wife, surely I am not less fair than she."

"Be not angry," Ulysses made reply. "The wise Penelope cannot,
indeed, be compared to thee, for she is a mortal woman and thou
art a goddess. Yet is my home dear to me, and I would fain see it
again. Yea, and if some god should wreck me on the deep, yet would
I endure it with patient heart. Already have I suffered much, and
toiled much in perils of war and perils of the sea. And as to what
is yet to come, let it be added to what hath been."

The next day Calypso gave him an axe with a handle of olive wood,
and an adze, and took him to the end of the island, where there
were great trees, long ago sapless and dry, alder and poplar and