"If, then, you are a goddess, or have heard news from Heaven tell me about that other unhappy one. Is he still alive, or is he dead and in the house of Hades?"
And the vision answered, "I shall not tell you for certain whether he is alive or dead, and there is no use in idle conversation."
On this it vanished through the thong-hole of the door.
I may add that I never quite understood the fastening of the Odyssean bedroom door, till I found my bedroom at the Hotel Centrale, Trapani, fastened in the Odyssean manner.
[1] Od. viii. 38-40, cf. also 61. It would seem that Alcinous found the provisions which the poorer guests cooked for themselves and ate outside in the court yards. The magnates ate in the covered cloister, and were no doubt cooked for.
[CHAPTER VII.]
FURTHER INDICATIONS THAT THE WRITER IS A WOMAN—YOUNG—HEADSTRONG—AND UNMARRIED.