12 KING ALFRED'S
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great tempest and a stormy sea. He was then driven onan island out in the Wendel sea. Then was there the daugh-ter of Apollo, the son of Jove. Jove was their king, andpretended that he should be the highest god, and that fool-ish people believed him because he was of royal lineage,and they knew not any other God at that time, but wor-shipped their kings for gods. Then should the father ofJove be also a god, whose name was Saturn ; and likewiseall his kindred they held for gods. Then was one of themthe Apollo whom we before mentioned. Apollo's daughtershould be a goddess, whose name was Circe. She, they said,should be very skilful in sorcery ; and she dwelt in the islandon which the king was driven, about whom we before spoke.She had then a great company of her servants, and alsoof other maidens. As soon as she saw the king driven thitherwhom we before mentioned, whose name was Ulysses, thenbegan she to love him, and each of them the other, beyondmeasure ; so that he for love of her neglected all his king-dom, and his family, and dwelt with her until the time thathis thanes would no longer remain with him ; but for love oftheir country, and on account of exile, determined to leavehim. Then began false men to work spells. And they saidthat she should by her sorcery overthrow the men, and castthem into the bodies of wild beasts, and afterward throwthem into chains and fetters. Some, they said, she shouldtransform to lions, and when they should speak then theyroared. Some should be wild boars, and when they shouldlament their misfortune then they grunted. Some becamewolves. These howled when they should speak. Somebecame that kind of wild beast that man calls tiger. Thuswas all the company turned to wild beasts of various kinds;each to some beast, except the king alone. Every meat theyrefused which men eat, and were desirous of those whichbeasts eat. They had no resemblance of men either in bodyor in voice, yet every one knew his mind, as he before knewit. That mind was very sorrowful through the miserieswhich they suffered. Indeed, the men who believed thesefictions, nevertheless knew that she by sorcery could notchange the minds of men, though she changed the bodies.How great an excellence is that of the mind in comparison
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