Far off at the sound of his voice’s thunder shuddering thrill, {1340}
And tremble the oxen that roam the meads with exceeding fear,
And the herders of kine: but never a whit dismaying to hear
Was the hero’s cry to his friends when the voice of his shouting they heard.
And they gathered with down-drooped eyes to his side, and they sat at his word
Sore troubled anigh where lay the ship; and the women withal
With the heroes mingled sat; and he spake, and he told them all:
‘Hearken, O friends, for in this mine affliction Goddesses three,
In vesture of goatskins girded about, from neck unto knee
Overdrooping their shoulders and waists, as maidens of earth to behold,