Explore "Stories from the Odyssey" by H.L. Havell on Textopian. Read with annotations and highlights.
Next day was appointed for a great feast in the palace of Alcinous, to which all the chief men of Phaeacia were invited, and when Odysseus returned to the house, after some hours spent in a visit to the town, hefound the courts and galleries thronged with a great company. The preparations for the banquet were on a heroic scale: twelve sheep, eight fat swine, and two oxen, the choicest of the herd, were slaughtered, and a goodly row of casks, filled with the finest vintages, gave further token that Alcinous was no niggardly host.
"Come," said Alcinous, meeting Odysseus at the gate. "The guests are seated, and all is ready. Trouble not thyself as to the manner of thy home-coming; that is cared for already, and the ship lies at her moorings. But to-day is a day of good cheer, when thou shalt learn how gay and joyous a life the Phaeacians live."