at dinner a prodigiously long while; and it would really have
made you ashamed to see how they swilled down the liquor and

gobbled up the food. They sat on golden thrones, to be sure;
but they behaved like pigs in a sty; and, if they had had their

wits about them, they might have guessed that this was the
opinion of their beautiful hostess and her maidens. It brings a

blush into my face to reckon up, in my own mind, what mountains
of meat and pudding, and what gallons of wine, these two and

twenty guzzlers and gormandizers ate and drank. They forgot all
about their homes, and their wives and children, and all about

Ulysses, and everything else, except this banquet, at which
they wanted to keep feasting forever. But at length they began

to give over, from mere incapacity to hold any more.
"That last bit of fat is too much for me," said one.

"And I have not room for another morsel," said his next
neighbor, heaving a sigh. "What a pity! My appetite is as sharp

as ever."
In short, they all left off eating, and leaned back on their

thrones, with such a stupid and helplessaspect as made them
ridiculous to behold. When their hostess saw this, she laughed

aloud; so did her four damsels; so did the two and twenty
serving men that bore the dishes, and their two and twenty

fellows that poured out the wine. And the louder they all
laughed, the more stupid and helpless did the two and twenty

gormandizers look. Then the beautiful woman took her stand in
the middle of the saloon, and stretching out a slender rod (it

had been all the while in her hand, although they never noticed
it till this moment), she turned it from one guest to another,

until each had felt it pointed at himself. Beautiful as her
face was, and though there was a smile on it, it looked just as

wicked and mischievous as the ugliest serpent that ever was
seen; and fat-witted as the voyagers had made themselves, they

began to suspect that they had fallen into the power of an
evil-minded enchantress.

"Wretches," cried she, "you have abused a lady's hospitality;
and in this princelysaloon your behavior has been suited to a

hog-pen. You are already swine in everything but the human
form, which you disgrace, and which I myself should be ashamed

to keep a moment longer, were you to share it with me. But it
will require only the slightest exercise of magic to make the

exterior conform to the hoggish disposition. Assume your proper
shapes, gormandizers, and begone to the sty!"

Uttering these last words, she waved her wand; and stamping her
foot imperiously, each of the guests was struck aghast at

beholding, instead of his comrades in human shape, one and
twenty hogs sitting on the same number of golden thrones. Each

man (as he still supposed himself to be) essayed to give a cry
of surprise, but found that he could merely grunt, and that, in

a word, he was just such another beast as his companions. It
looked so intolerably absurd to see hogs on cushioned thrones,

that they made haste to wallow down upon all fours, like other
swine. They tried to groan and beg for mercy, but forthwith

emitted the most awful grunting and squealing that ever came
out of swinish throats. They would have wrung their hands in

despair, but, attempting to do so, grew all the more desperate
for seeing themselves squatted on their hams, and pawing the

air with their fore trotters. Dear me! what pendulous ears they
had! what little red eyes, half buried in fat! and what long

snouts, instead of Grecian noses!
But brutes as they certainly were, they yet had enough of human

nature in them to be shocked at their own hideousness; and
still intending to groan, they uttered a viler grunt and squeal

than before. So harsh and ear-piercing it was, that you would
have fancied a butcher was sticking his knife into each of

their throats, or, at the very least, that somebody was pulling
every hog by his funny little twist of a tail.

"Begone to your sty!" cried the enchantress, giving them some
smart strokes with her wand; and then she turned to the serving

men--"Drive out these swine, and throw down some acorns for
them to eat."

The door of the saloon being flung open, the drove of hogs ran
in all directions save the right one, in accordance with their

hoggish perversity, but were finally driven into the back yard
of the palace. It was a sight to bring tears into one's eyes

(and I hope none of you will be cruel enough to laugh at it),
to see the poor creatures go snuffing along, picking up here a

cabbage leaf and there a turnip top, and rooting their noses in
the earth for whatever they could find. In their sty, moreover,

they behaved more piggishly than the pigs that had been born
so; for they bit and snorted at one another, put their feet in

the trough, and gobbled up their victuals in a ridiculous
hurry; and, when there was nothing more to be had, they made a

great pile of themselves among some unclean straw, and fell
fast asleep. If they had any human reason left, it was just

enough to keep them wondering when they should be slaughtered,
and what quality of bacon they should make.

Meantime, as I told you before, Eurylochus had waited, and
waited, and waited, in the entrance hall of the palace, without

being able to comprehend what had befallen his friends. At
last, when the swinish uproar resounded through the palace, and

when he saw the image of a hog in the marble basin, he thought
it best to hasten back to the vessel, and inform the wise

Ulysses of these marvelous occurrences. So he ran as fast as he
could down the steps, and never stopped to draw breath till he

reached the shore.
"Why do you come alone?" asked King Ulysses, as soon as he saw

him. "Where are your two and twenty comrades?"
At these questions, Eurylochus burst into tears.

"Alas!" he cried, "I greatly fear that we shall never see one
of their faces again."

Then he told Ulysses all that had happened, as far as he knew
it, and added that he suspected the beautiful woman to be a

vile enchantress, and the marble palace, magnificent as it
looked, to be only a dismalcavern in reality. As for his

companions, he could not imagine what had become of them,
unless they had been given to the swine to be devoured alive.

At this intelligence, all the voyagers were greatly affrighted.
But Ulysses lost no time in girding on his sword, and hanging

his bow and quiver over his shoulders, and. taking a spear in
his right hand. When his followers saw their wise leader making

these preparations, they inquired whither he was going, and
earnestly besought him not to leave them.

"You are our king," cried they; "and what is more, you are the
wisest man in the whole world, and nothing but your wisdom and

courage can get us out of this danger. If you desert us, and go
to the enchanted palace, you will suffer the same fate as our

poor companions, and not a soul of us will ever see our dear
Ithaca again."

"As I am your king," answered Ulysses, "and wiser than any of
you, it is therefore the more my duty to see what has befallen

our comrades, and whether anything can yet be done to rescue
them. Wait for me here until tomorrow. If I do not then return,

you must hoist sail, and endeavor to find your way to our
native land. For my part, I am answerable for the fate of these

poor mariners, who have stood by my side in battle, and been so
often drenched to the skin, along with me, by the same