Answered and said Alcinous: “Sooth to tell,
Guest, in this thing my daughter did not well,
That hither with her maids she brought you not
Herself, since first before her feet you fell.”
And subtle-souled Odysseus answer made:
“Prince, on that faultless maiden be there laid
No blame herein: for with her hand-maidens
She bade me follow; but behind I stayed
“For fear of shame, lest haply should you see,
Your mind might deem some hateful thought of me.”[[12]]