Once again, then, Odysseus and his men found themselves sailing the high seas, where the halcyons called to each other across the lonely waves. Presently, all soft and silver-misted on the horizon, they caught sight of a new land; and, by the sudden hush that fell over the ocean, and by a dim sweet echo of far-away music, Odysseus knew that his vessel was drawing near to the sirens’ Enchanted Isles.

This was one of the dangers from which Circe had taught him the way of escape. So, while the crew took up oars to row the ship through the calm water, the king sat in the bows, busily making little balls of soft wax. By and by, he rose from his seat and approached the sailors; and, one by one, he stopped up their ears with the wax balls, having first explained to them what they were to do when they were no longer able to hear his orders. In obedience to what he had commanded, the seamen —who were, of course, all made deaf by the rolls of wax in their ears— took their king respectfully by his royal shoulders and bound him, as tightly as they could, to the mast of the vessel. Then they lifted their oars again, and, once more, rowed steadily in the direction of the Enchanted Isles.

👉 And that's it for now! Subscribe to the podcast if you haven't already: Classicsness.com. And if you want to know more about classics and even learn Latin online, check out LatinFromScratch.com.

📚 Source: Once Upon A Time: Children’s Stories From The Classics (1920?) by Blanche Winder (1866-1930).