Book VI of twenty-four · From Calypso to Phaeacia
Nausicaä feeds, clothes, guides Odysseus
Athena prompts Nausicaä to wash her wedding robes at the river, where Odysseus—shipwrecked and sleeping nearby—wakes and approaches the frightened maidens. Nausicaä alone stands her ground, and after his plea she has him bathed, clothed, and fed, transformed by Athena into a figure of striking beauty. She then instructs him on how to reach her father’s palace and win her mother’s favor, before he prays alone at a grove sacred to Athena.
Argument, 1871 Nausicaa, daughter of Alcinous, king of the Phaeacians, directed by Athena to go to the river and wash her marriage robes —Sports of her maidens after the washing is performed —Odysseus awakened by the noise, relieved and clothed by Nausicaa, and bidden to follow her into the city, and there make his suit to the queen, the wife of Alcinous.