The Adventures of Ulysses the Wanderer

THE ADVENTURES OF ULYSSES _THE WANDERER_

An Old Story Retold by C. RANGER-GULL

AUTHOR OF "THE HYPOCRITE," "FROM THE BOOK BEAUTIFUL," "BACK TO LILAC LAND," ETC.

Illustrated BY W. G. MEIN

London GREENING AND COMPANY, LTD. 20 CECIL COURT, CHARING CROSS ROAD 1902

BY THE SAME AUTHOR

THE HYPOCRITE. Seventh Edition. 2s. 6d.

BACK TO LILAC LAND. Second Edition. 6s.

MISS MALEVOLENT. Second Edition. 3s. 6d.

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FROM THE BOOK BEAUTIFUL. Being Old Lights Re-lit. 3s. 6d.

IN PREPARATION.

THE SERF. A Tale of the Times of King Stephen.

HIS GRACE'S GRACE. A Story of Oxford Life.

FOR A FULL MINUTE. _Page 32._ _Frontispiece._]

TO

HERBERT BEERBOHM TREE

IN APPRECIATION OF HIS SCHOLARSHIP IN ADMIRATION OF HIS ART TO ONE OF THE FEW GREAT ARTISTS WHO HAS NEVER BEEN UNTRUE TO THE HIGHEST IDEALS OF HIS CALLING AND IN SPECIAL MEMORY OF THE FIRST NIGHT OF "HAMLET" AT MANCHESTER

CONTENTS

PAGE Foreword 9

Brief Account of Principal Characters in the Odyssey 13

The First Episode--How They blinded the Son of Poseidon 21

The Second Episode--The Adventure of the Palace in the Wood 39

The Third Episode--How Ulysses walked in Hell, and of the Adventure of the Sirens and Scylla 48

The Fourth Episode--How Ulysses lost his Merry Men and came a Waif to Calypso with the Shining Hair 63

The Last Episode--How the King came Home again after the Long Years 80

A Note on Homer and Ulysses 98

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

HE STARED STEADILY AT THEM WITH HIS SINGLE EYE FOR A FULL MINUTE _Frontispiece_

THEN HE CAME SWIFTLY UPON THE GLEAMING PALACE _facing page_ 45

THEN HE WAS, IN AN INSTANT MOMENT, AWARE OF A MORE THAN MORTAL PRESENCE " 49

THEY CAME TO THE BRINK OF THE RIVER " 52

"WHO AM I THAT I CAN COMBAT THE WILL OF ZEUS OR THE HARDNESS OF YOUR HEART?" " 78

"NAY, IF YOU LOVE ME," HE SAID, "NONE OF THAT, MY FRIEND" " 83

FOREWORD

Seven fair and illustrious cities of the dim, ancient world, Argos, Athenæ, Chios, Colophon, Salamis, Rhodos, Smyrna, fought a war of words over HOMER'S birthplace.

Each claimed the honour.

And if, indeed, such an accident of chance confers an honour upon a town, then the birthplace of the Greatest Poet of all time should be a place of pilgrimage.

For, among the weavers of Epos, Drama, and Romance, he who was called Melesegenes is first of all and wears an imperishable crown.

For 3000 years his fame has streamed down the ages.

The world has changed. Great empires have risen, flowered and passed. Christianity came, flooding mankind with light, at a time when, though Homer was a dim tradition, his work was a living force in the world. When Christ was born, Homerus was dead 900 years.

A man with such immensity of glory ceases to be a man. He becomes a Force.

Of the two imperishable monuments Homer has left us, the decision of critical scholarship has placed the _Iliad_ first. It has been said that the _Iliad_ is like the midday, the _Odyssey_ like the setting sun. Both are of equal splendour, though the latter has lost its noonday heat.

But I would take that adroit simile and draw another meaning from it.

When deferred, expected night at last approaches, when the sun paints the weary west with faëry pictures of glowing seas, of golden islands hanging in the sky, of lonely magic waterways unsailed by mortal keels; then, indeed, there comes into the heart and brain another warmth,--the mysterious quickening of Romance.

For I think that the ringing sound of arms, the vibrant thriddings of bows, the clash of heroes, are far less wonderful than the long, lonely wanderings of Ulysses.

Through all the _Odyssey_ the winds are blowing, the seas moaning, and the estranged sad spectres of the night flit noiselessly across the printed page.

Through new lands, among new peoples--friends and foes--touching at green islands set like emeralds in wine-coloured seas, the immortal mariner moves to the music of his creator's verse. The Sirens' voices, the Fairy's enchanted wine, the Twin Monsters of the Strait pass and are forgotten.

His wife's tears bid him ever towards home.

I sometimes have wondered if Vergil thought of Ulysses when he made his own lesser wanderer say:--

"Per varios casus per tot discrimina rerum, Tendimus in Latium, sedes ubi fata quietas Ostendunt."

And now, since we are to have, on that so magical a stage, a concrete picture: since we are to take away another storied memory from beneath the copper dome, I feel that the story of Ulysses may once more be told in English.

A fine poet, a great player, are to give us an Ulysses who must perforce be not only full of the spirit of his own age of myth, but instinct with the spirit of this.

That is as inevitable as it is interesting.

The "Gentle Elia" (how one wishes one could find a better name for him--but custom makes cowards of us all) has written his own version of the _Odyssey_. I cannot emulate that. But I think I can at least be useful.

There are three stages of knowing Homer: the time when one dog's ears and dogrells him at school, the time when one loves him, a literary love! at Oxford, and the time when the _va et vient_ of life in great capitals wakes the dormant Ulysses in the heart of every artist, and he begins to understand.

"The long day wanes: the slow moon climbs: the deep Moans round with many voices. Come, my friends, 'Tis not too late to seek a newer world. Push off, and sitting well in order smite The sounding furrows; for my purpose holds To sail beyond the sunset----"

_C. RANGER-GULL._

A BRIEF ACCOUNT

OF THE

PRINCIPAL CHARACTERS IN THE WANDERINGS OF ULYSSES, ACCORDING TO THE ANCIENT WRITERS AND LEGENDS.

ULYSSES. The hero of Homer's great poem was known to the Greeks under the name of Odysseus. He was king of the pastoral islands of Ithaca and Dulichium. Most of the petty Greek chieftains became suitors for the hand of the beautiful Helen, and Ulysses was among the number, but withdrew when he realised the smallness of his chances. He then married Penelope, the daughter of Icarius, and at the same time joined with the other unsuccessful lovers of Helen in a sworn league for her future protection should she ever stand in need of it. He then returned to Ithaca with his bride. The rape of Helen soon compelled him to leave Penelope and join the other Grecian princes in the great war against Troy. He endeavoured to avoid the summons by pretending madness. Yoking a horse and a bull together, he began to plough the sands of the sea shore. The messenger who was sent to him took Telemachus, the infant son of Ulysses, and placed the child in the direct course of the plough, in this way circumventing his design. Ulysses was one of the most prominent figures during the Trojan war, his valour, and still more his cunning, making him of supreme importance in the councils of the princes. After the Trojan war Ulysses set sail for home, and at this period of his career the story of the _Odyssey_ begins. He was driven by malevolent winds on to the shores of Africa, where he and his mariners were captured by the one-eyed giant, Polyphemus, who ate five of the band. Ulysses escaped by thrusting a stake into the giant's eye and then leaving the cave in which he was confined by crawling under the bellies of the sheep when the Cyclops led them to pasture. He next arrives at Æolia, and Æolus gave him, imprisoned in bags, all the evil winds which were likely to obstruct his safe return homewards. The sailors, curious to know what the bags contained, opened them, and the imprisoned winds, rushing out with fearful violence, destroyed the whole fleet save only the vessel which bore Ulysses. The ship was thrown on the shores of the Goddess Circe's enchanted island, and the companions of Ulysses were changed into swine by the enchantress. Ulysses escaped the like fate by means of a magic herb he had received from Mercury, and forced the goddess to bring his friends to their original shape. He then yielded to her solicitations and made her the mother of Telegonus. The next stage of his adventures brings him to Hades, where he goes to consult the shade of the wise Tiresias as to the means of reaching home in safety. He passes the terrible coasts of the Sirens unhurt, and escaped the monsters Scylla and Charybdis by a series of narrow chances. In Sicily his sailors, urged by extreme hunger, killed some of Apollo's cattle, and the Sun-God in revenge destroyed all his companions and also his ship. Ulysses alone escaped on a raft and swam to the shores of an island belonging to Calypso, with whom he lived a lotos life as husband for seven years. The gods eventually interfered, and Ulysses, once more properly equipped, set out on his travels again. However, Neptune (Poseidon), the lord of the sea, still remembered the injury done to his son, the giant Polyphemus, and wrecked this ship also. Ulysses was cast up on the island of the Phoeacians, where he was hospitably received by King Alcinous and his daughter the Princess Nausicaa, and at last sent home in safety to his own kingdom after an absence of more than twenty years. The Goddess Athene befriended him, and info