EURIPIDES
Under the windowed waves,
Hand in hand dancing, circling round and singing. ^0
The Fourth Maiden
I wonder if their rudder steered them through
That other reach of sea
Where the south wind eases and the southwest wind
Delights a sail and where the isles are white
With birds that cover them,
That rise and wheel and then curve back again,
Where the wings of ocean brood
And where Achilles races the dark waters. 435
The First Maiden
My Lady prayed that Fate might hither bring,
On the way home from Troy,
The cause of her great misery. Oh, would 440
That Helen, Helen had been blown ashore,
That on her fatal head
For punishment the holy drops might fall
And that my Lady's knife 445
Might find in her the fitting sacrifice!
The Second Maiden
But I have prayed for a deliverer,
Some mariner from Hellas
Able to end my grief and set me free. 450
Ever I go, though only in a dream,
Back to my father's house.
And few have greater riches than the joy
That comes to us in visions,
In dreams which nobody can take away. 455
The Third Maiden
Look, there they are! See the two men in chains!
The herdsman told the truth.
We must be quiet now for Artemis.
388