[+lo] FneNz Kerxl Tsn Suonrrn Sronrrs [+lr ]had stayed on ro wair for A.'s return. It is true, he had asked sev-eral times whether A. was not back yet, bur he was still sitting upin A.'s lo9T. Overfoyed at the opportunity of seeing B. ar Jnceand. explaining everything to him, A. rushei upstairs. FIe is almostat.the top, when he stumbles, twists a sinew, ind almost faintingwith the. pain, incapable even of uttering e cry, only able t6moan faindy in the darkness, he hears B.-impossibie to tellwhether ar a grear distance or quite near him-immping downthe stairs in a violent rage and vanishing for good.

Translated by Willa and Edwin Muir

rally any and every rraveler before him could have done theseme, except.those whom the Sirens allured even from a grel1distance; but it was known to all the world that such things wersof no help whatever. The song of the Sirens could- pierqgthrough everything, and the longing of those they seduce6would have broken far stronger bonds than chains and masts.But Ulysses did not think of that, although he had probablyheard of it. He trusted absolutely to his handful of wax ,nd hisfarhom of chain, and in innocenr elation over his little stratagerqsailed out to meet the Sirens.

Now the Sirens have a still more fatal weapon than rheir sononamely their silence. And though admittediy such a thirrg hisnever happened, still it is conceivable that someone might possi-bly have escaped from their singing; but from their silenci cer-tainly never. Against the feeling of having triumphed over therqby one's own strength, and the consequent exaltation that bea15down everything before it, no earthly powers can resist.

And when Ulysses approached them the porenr songsrress€5actually did not sing, whether because rhey thought that thisenemy could be vanquished only by their silence, or because t\glook of bliss on the face of Ulysses, who was thinking of nothinpbut his wax and his chains, made them forget their singing' But Ulysses, if one may so express it, did not hear their si-lence; he thought they were singing and that he alone did nothear them. For a feeting momenr he saw their throats rising andfalling, their breasts lifting, their eyes filled with tears, their lipghalf-parted, but believed that these were accompaniments to theairs which died unheard around him. Soon, however, all thisfaded from his sight as he fixed his gaze on the distance, the Si-rens literally vanished before his resolution, and er rhe very mo-ment when they were nearesr to him he knew of them nolonger.

But they-lovelier than ever-stretched their necks andturned, let their awesome hair flutter free in the wind, and freelystretched their claws on the rccks. They no longer had any de-sire to allure; all that they-wanted was to hold as long as theycould the radiance that fell from Ulysses'great eyes.

The Truth obout Sancbo Panza

Wtrnour making any boast of it Sancho Panza succeeded in thecourse of years, by feeding him a great number of romances ofchivalry and advenrure in the evening and night hours, in sodiverting from himself his demon, whom he later called DonQuixote, that this demon thereupon ser out, uninhibited, on themaddest exploits, which, however, for the Iack of a preordainedobject, which should have been Sancho panza himself, harmedybo{y. A free man, Sancho Penza philosophically followedDon Quixote on his crusades, perhaps out of a sense of responsi-bility, and had of them a great and Cdifying enrerrainment io theend of his days.

Translated by Willa and Edasin Muir

Tbe Silence of the Sirens

Pnoor that inadequate, even childish measures may serve ro res-cue one from peril:

To protect himself from the Sirens Ulysses stopped his earswith wax and had himself bound to the mast of hii-ship. Natu-