With ijo agreeable a prospect before him,
Ulysses fancied that he could not do better than
to go straight to the palace gate, and tell the
master of it that there was a crew of poor ship-
wrecked mariners, not far off, who had eaten
nothing for a day or two, save a few clams and
oysters, and would therefore be thankful for a
little food. And the prince or nobleman must
be a very stingy curmudgeon, to be sure, if, at
least, when his own dinner was over, he would
not bid them welcome to the broken victuals
from the table.

Pleasing himself with this idea, King Ulysses
had made a few steps in the direction of the
palace, when there was a great twittering and
chirping from the branch of a neighboring tree.
A moment afterwards, a bird came flying to-
wards him, and hovered in the air, so as al-
most to brush his face with its wings. It was
a very pretty little bird, with purple wings and
body, and yellow legs, and a circle of golden
feathers round its neck, and on its head a golden
tuft, which looked like a king's crown in minia-
ture. Ulysses tried to catch the bird. But it
fluttered nimbly out of his reach, still chirping

[[165]]

p164 _ -chap- _ toc-1 _ p165w _ toc-2 _ +chap+ _ p166

v?