The Cruise of the Branwen

CRUISE OF THE BRANWEN too, is the firm sandy beach on which the princess played at ball with her attendant virgins until their singing roused the hero from his sleep. You may drive to-day along the level track through the Ropa valley by which Odysseus followed her in her return. It was evening when he reached "the fair grove of Athene; a poplar grove near the road," where the prudent princess bade him linger till she had seen her father. Within its shade there is still the greenest grass in all Phreacia, and near it is the only spring in all the Bay of Liapadais. Within sight is the city of the Phreacians and the Palace of Alcinous. "It is easily known," says Nausicaa, " and a young child could be thy guide." But Nausicaa's home was far from the harbour of Corfu we visited that May 4, farther almost, by association, than by the space of the three– hour drive ; for in Corfu you feel that you are leaving Greece behind. When we turned north, and steered up the east coast of the Adriatic, Odysseus and the Olympic Games of Athens seemed centuries as well as leagues astern.