One stroke of the sea-god's mighty trident then stirs up a tempest which dashes the raft to pieces, and Ulysses is in imminent danger of perishing, when the sea-nymph Leucothea gives him her life-preserving scarf, bidding him cast it back into the waves when it has borne him safely to land! Buoyed up by this scarf, Ulysses finally reaches the shore, where, after obeying the nymph's injunctions, he buries himself in dead leaves and sinks into an exhausted sleep.
Close to the cliff with both his hands he clung, And stuck adherent, and suspended hung; Till the huge surge roll'd off; then backward sweep The refluent tides, and plunge him in the deep.
And when the polypus, from forth his cave Torn with full force, reluctant beats the wave, His ragged claws are stuck with stones and sands; So the rough rock had shagg'd Ulysses' hands.
And now had perish'd, whelm'd beneath the main, The unhappy man; e'en fate had been in vain; But all-subduing Pallas lent her power, And prudence saved him in the needful hour.
_Book VI._ While Ulysses is thus sleeping, Minerva, in a dream admonishes Nausicaa, daughter of the Phaeacian king, to wash her garments in readiness for her wedding.

On awakening, the princess, after bespeaking a chariot with mules to draw the clothes to the washing place, departs with her maids for the shore.
The clothes washed and hung out to dry, the princess and her attendants play ball, until their loud shrieks awaken Ulysses.

Veiling his nakedness behind leafy branches, he timidly approaches the maidens, and addresses them from afar.

Convinced he is, as he represents, a shipwrecked man in need of aid, the princess provides him with garments, and directs him to follow her chariot to the confines of the city.

There he is to wait until she has reached home before presenting himself before her parents, as she does not wish his presence with her to cause gossip in town.
_Book VII._ Having left Ulysses behind her, Nausicaa returns home, where her chariot is unloaded; but shortly after she has retired, Ulysses, guided by Minerva in disguise, enters the town and palace unseen.