The moment you see that he is asleep seize him; put forth all your strength and
hold him fast, for he will do his very utmost to get away from you. He will
turn himself into every kind of creature that goes upon the earth, and
will become also both fire and water; but you must hold him fast and grip him
tighter and tighter, till he begins to talk to you and comes back to what
he was when you saw him go to sleep; then you may slacken your hold and
let him go; and you can ask him which of the gods it is that is angry
with you, and what you must do to reach your home over the seas.'
…
"We rushed upon him with a shout and seized him; on which he began at once with his old tricks, and
changed himself first into a lion with a great mane; then all of a sudden he
became a dragon, a leopard, a wild boar; the next moment he was running water,
and then again directly he was a tree, but we stuck to him and never
lost hold, till at last the cunning old creature became distressed, and
said, Which of the gods was it, Son of Atreus, that hatched this plot
with you for snaring me and seizing me against my will? What do you want?'
Odyssey IV
No comments:
Post a Comment