The Voyage of the Cleitonauts 
	by Paco	 
	Genre: paleo-historical fantasy; Word Count: 5,394 
	Prompts: ship/boat, ponygirls, Minotaur 

We departed from the eastern shore of Atlantia as the rosy-fingered 
dawn rose into our faces out of the sea. There were 55 of us; 18 men 
for each of our three ships, arranged in three shifts of six, plus 
myself as their leader. The woman whose company I had been keeping, 
Thronia the mapmaker, fervently wished to accompany us on our journey 
so as to refine and expand her maps, but I thought it unwise to have a 
woman on board among so many men, especially one with such pleasing 
proportions, lest it lead to unrest among the men. So we set out toward 
the east to explore, and perhaps find that land whose people were said 
to dominate all of the lands around the east end of the Middle Sea, 
called Orchomenos or Mycenae, with cities said to be at Tyrins and 
Pylos. The plan was to establish trade there, and to gather information 
on the whereabouts of the fabled Ring of Gyges. 

I myself was in in charge of the expedition and of my great ship, the 
Cleito, with my good friends, Agelaus and Myrto, as captains of the 
other ships, the Mytilene and the Tyro. 

The weather was fair, and once we had rowed out of the harbor and the 
sails set, the winds were favorable, so it was not long before the 
panorama of our homeland sank below the horizon. The sailing was easy, 
the winds steady and from abaft; our helmsmen and sail-trimmers having 
only to make minor adjustments all that day. Our course proceeded with 
ease as we sailed toward the Pillars of Hercules. 

That night, our first night at sea, I went to my cabin, giving the 
command to Heptos, the helmsman of the shift. He sailed on by the light 
of the moon. The next day passed uneventfully as well, and once more I 
retired, this time leaving Petros in charge. 

The third day we sailed between The Pillars. Thence I kept the line of 
the northern shore in view as long as I could, but near the end of the 
second day after the Pillars, it veered away from our eastward course 
so severely that we had to abandon its reassurance. We thus ventured 
out into the largely uncharted reaches of the Middle Sea. The winds 
continued to be favorable, and we made good easting that night and the 
next day. 

It was near dusk of that day, the rosy fingers of the setting sun's 
rays tickling at our sails from behind, when Telemetros, on watch, 
opened his mouth and cried out, reporting land ahead, land which had 
not previously been charted. It proved to be an island, and we 
proceeded to navigate to its south. Most of the land was rocky and 
clifflike, but partway around it we found a natural harbor. I chose to 
overnight in this sheltered place and explore the interior at dawn the 
next day. In the gathering dusk, we dropped sails and rowed the three 
ships in, there being little wind within that refuge. Then, we hove the 
ships close together and we thanked the gods of wind and water for the 
gift of this find with a feast. Not knowing who or what lived on the 
island, we kept our feasting quiet, even though a great amount of wine 
was consumed. I ordered an early end to our feast, citing the work we 
had planned for the next day. And then I retired to my cabin. 

Long before the sun's blazing face rose above the horizon, when it had 
just grown light enough to see, I was wakened by a pounding at my 
cabin's hatch. The voice of the watch was calling me to arise and come 
to the rail. Fearing an attack, I turned from my berth's warmth, arose 
quickly and grabbed my sword where it hung, not even bothering with my 
tunic. I sprang, naked but armed, from my cabin to see what might be 
amiss. Many of my men were already gathered at the gunwales of the 
ship. 

Lined up on the shore were a number of inhabitants of the island, not 
brandishing weapons to threaten us, but gazing with obvious curiosity 
at our small flotilla of ships. I felt rather foolish, having rushed 
from my berth naked and armed only with my sword and the morning wood, 
nonetheless I put down the weapon and waved. Several of those on shore 
waved back. I went to the opposite rail, relieved myself and returned 
to my cabin, hung up the sword and dressed. 

After conferring with my crew over breakfast, I elected to take our 
small boat to shore with a handful of men. So it came to pass that I 
stood in the prow of our boat while four oarsmen propelled the boat to 
shore. As we shoved off from the ship, I waved to shore in what I hoped 
would be taken as a friendly manner. Two of the watchers on shore broke 
off from their group and hurried away, I assumed to inform their 
leader. I watched closely as my oarsmen steadily made for shore. 

As I expected, before we had rowed half the way, the leaders, or 
emissaries thereof, drove down to the beach. There were four of them, 
each in a horse-drawn chariot. Or, better said, I took them for horses 
at first. As we came closer, however, I noticed that these horses were 
lacking the greater portion of their bodies, having but two legs. How 
strange, I thought, what an odd sort of horses they have here!  

But then I noticed that these horses, despite that they had flowing 
tails and proud heads,  had very feminine-looking breasts! And my jaw 
dropped in amazement as the realization struck me; these were not 
horses at all, but women, naked, wearing horse-shaped headdresses and 
drawing those chariots! 

My men, rowing with their backs to the beach, were unable to see the 
incredible scene before me. Thus, in order that the rowers not display 
shock when they turned around and thereby make us appear to be 
unsophisticated rubes, I opened my mouth to speak, giving them warning 
and describing to them what I saw. 

My warning description notwithstanding, when they turned, my men fairly 
gawked and nearly forgot to secure the oars and drag the boat up onto 
the shore, but again I opened my mouth and spoke a quick reprimand 
urging them to their task as I waded up to greet the locals. In defense 
of my men I must admit that these ponygirls were not only most unusual 
to view, but were very sightly and pleasing to the eye. As our boat 
ground onto the sandy bottom close to shore, one by one the charioteers 
exited from their cars and paused to speak a word or two to the 
draft-women, and gentled them with a hand caressing their attractive 
rumps much as one of our riders might stroke his horse upon 
dismounting. 

With my hands held forth, showing that they were empty of weaponry, I 
strode directly to the driver with the most elaborate headgear and 
opened my mouth to address him in a manner that was polite but not 
subservient, using the languages that I knew. To my pleasant surprise, 
he responded favorably in Phoenician, a language that I had learned 
from eastern traders and in which I had become fluent. His speech was 
quite understandable, even though it was oddly inflected and 
structured. We launched into conversation immediately, and the other 
charioteers engaged in lively conversations with my men in the same 
tongue as well. They wished to know all about us; where we had come 
from, what trade goods we had brought, and curiously, whether we had 
any animals on board our ship. 

For my own part, I was most curious about the women that they employed 
as we might employ horses, but I did not wish to appear to pry, lest we 
insult them and incur their wrath. I also wished to see the faces of 
the women, to determine whether they were as pleasant to look upon as 
their bodies. They were nearly naked, but the horse-head shaped 
headgear prevented all but a cursory view of their visages and the 
bridles and bits in their mouths distorted what little could be seen. 
Aside from the headgear and bridle, each also wore a thin leather strap 
about her waist. Attached to this strap were two fine leather cords 
which attached to cuffs on their forearms, preventing them from raising 
them. Their hands were otherwise unencumbered, for it was with them 
that they held the shafts by which they drew the chariots along. On 
their feet they wore most unusual shoes; not like the sandals of the 
others; their footgear encased the entire foot, shaped so as to force 
them to go on tiptoe and the whole resembling the pasterns and hooves 
of horses. But what mystified me and most drew my attention, aside from 
their hidden faces, were the bushy horse-tails that each sported, for 
no straps or other means were at all visible as means of attachment to 
their bodies. Less reasoning men than I, indeed some of my shipmates, 
might believe those tails to be a natural part of them. 

After the introductory conversation, we were invited to repair with the 
islanders to their village that stood nearby. I signaled to those still 
aboard our ships in the harbor that all seemed well, that they were to 
wait aboard, and I climbed onto the chariot beside their headman. The 
men from my ship joined the other charioteers. The remaining islanders 
followed on foot. 

The way was serpentine, reducing the slope to one that was easily 
managed. We were escorted to a large hut or lodge in the village, 
standing on a hill overlooking the harbor. The chariots were drawn up 
neatly before the wooden structure and we were conducted into it. 
Evidently, it was not considered proper to wear headgear within it, for 
our hosts doffed theirs, so we entered bare-headed as well. 

Inside, we were invited to sit or recline on broad pillows that served 
instead of chairs or lounges, and slaves brought fruit and drink for us 
and for our hosts. I assumed them to be slaves, for they were all quite 
naked but for sandals and that the men were castrated. This shed some 
light upon the question of the poygirls; they must also be slaves. In 
my conversation with Glaukos, for that proved to be the native leader's 
name, conversation now grown cordial, my assumption was soon 
corroborated; that indeed the servants and the “horses” were 
slaves.  

The women, now devoid of their headgear, bridles and footwear, entered 
into the lodge to serve us as well. The faces of the women proved to be 
worthy of the curiosity I had felt, for they were uniformly well-formed 
and beautiful. The mystery of the tails was also unraveled; the women 
bending to serve the men made it evident that the “tails” were 
attached to plugs the women wore in their anuses. I later learned that 
these plugs, pear-shaped and well-oiled for insertion, served not only 
to provide pleasure for the eyes of the men, but also pleasure for the 
wearers as well, for every movement they made provided them with 
stimulation. 

Then Glaukos explained that one of these women was assigned to each of 
us visitors. In his speaking, he told that they were to provide for all 
our needs, as was their way of hospitality. And indeed, they did serve 
us, placing the fruits and goblets of wine to our mouths. After the 
fruit and wine was consumed, Glaukos and his men left us, the women 
slaves remaining to attend to us. 

Observing the switching of their tails, the pleasing aspect of the 
rounded buttocks surrounding those tails, and the rest of their well 
formed naked bodies as well, combined with the week of celibate 
sailing, had produced a certain noticeable stiffness beneath the togas 
of myself and my men, a fact that did not go unnoticed by the women. 
Nor had I any intention of being celibate, despite the absence of 
Thronia, if it could be helped. I increased in that thinking – as 
well as in other ways – when Poulxeria, which was the name of the 
buxom slave assigned me, slid a hand under my tunic.  So I quickly 
raised that garment and lay down beside her despite that the pillow was 
really too narrow for two. She also spoke the oddly accented Phoenician 
that my host had spoken, so I opened my mouth and did speak to her, 
pointing out the manifest qualities of the large and hard pleasure-rod 
that I proposed to confer upon her for our mutual pleasures. 

In any case, I was surprised that the little Siren repulsed my 
advances. I naturally assumed otherwise, from the speech of Glaukos, 
and insisted. She continued to rebuff my offer, claiming that, like her 
“sisters.” she was to remain a virgin, but counter-offered to ease 
my affliction manually. She uttered this proposal while encircling my 
throbbing shaft with her long, thin fingers. I was going to continue to 
petition her for a more intimate activity, but her clever hands, that 
she coated liberally with oil from a nearby flask, put their cleverness 
to use; use that fairly robbed me of further coherent speech, although 
I noticed that my men were being similarly attended. 

She did not merely tug at me. The tips of her clever digits teased at 
the sides of my shaft, danced over the head, and drew the collar of 
foreskin back and forth. I was reduced to mute jelly, and could only 
lie back on the pillow and moan. She positioned herself between my 
wide-spread knees and fondled, then stretched my testicles with one 
hand while continuing to stroke the tender underside of my now exposed 
mushroom with the soft pad of the thumb of the other. 

Returning the attention of both hands to my pole, she spent long 
minutes stroking it with only the soft tips of her fingers, running a 
fingernail over the head, and encircling it warmly with both palms. She 
formed a ring of the thumb and forefinger of one hand, encircled the 
shaft with that ring, and ran it up and down the shaft while the other 
hand pulled at my balls. She cupped her palm over the head and rubbed 
it. Holding the pole between her fingers and palms, she rubbed the 
underside of the head with both thumbs. 

Evidently realizing that I was approaching the breaking point, she 
wrapped her hands around it and rapidly stroked my length until it spat 
my seed into the air like lava spewing forth from a volcano. Poulxeria 
continued to minister to it until it was completely spent and shrunken. 
Then, smiling, she lay down by my side, still holding my genitalia in 
her hands. 

When I had recovered sufficient wit to be able to engage in 
conversation, I spoke with her, opening my mouth to ask about the need 
of these women to remain a virgin. But her answers made no sense, and 
were interrupted by the return of the chieftain and his minions. I 
exchanged pleasantries with Glaukos, and reached an agreement that the 
next day we would bring more of my fellows and some of the trade goods, 
and begin the transacting of trade. 

After a restful night, and much anticipation, three very full boats 
were rowed to shore, carrying men and goods. Once more we were greeted 
on shore by charioteers whose cars were drawn by naked women in 
horse-costume. I thought that I recognized Poulxeria, and was rewarded 
by a furtive wave of her hand. 

The bulk of the day was spent on the beach, the islanders examining the 
items we had brought ashore. In turn, they brought island goods to 
exchange for them. There were many items that we had not seen before, 
or that were rare in our lands. For these we eagerly traded, spurning 
items that were easily available from the Phoenicians. At the end of 
the day, our boats returned to the ships laden with the exchanged 
goods. My captains and I, along with several other trusted sailors, 
remained on the island to join the islanders for feasting and giving 
thanks to the gods for our mutual good fortune. 

Once more, we went to their lodge. Glaukos offered thanks to the gods 
by slaughtering a young lamb, but then the animal was roasted, and 
became part of our feast. There, in their lodge, we joined with the 
islanders to feast upon fruits and meats and many other delicious items 
of the local food, some of which were new to our palates, but 
nonetheless delicious. The castrated slaves and the women of the tails 
did their best to see that we had our fill of the food and strong wine. 

During the meal, Poulxeria once more anticipated my every move. I took 
the opportunity presented by her closeness to touch and fondle every 
reachable part. In truth she seemed not to be be at all reluctant, so I 
was surprised, after the meal, when once more she rejected my 
entreaties. When she refused my advances, with what appeared to be 
genuine reluctance, even as I caressed her ample breasts, I 
half-expected her to offer to repeat the manipulations she had lavished 
upon me the previous evening, but instead she took my hardness into the 
warmth of her mouth most effectively and thoroughly. 

With a laugh and a command to the women that they take good care of us, 
the island men adjourned elsewhere to perform some native ritual.  

Not only did Poulxeria wrap her rosy-pink lips around the shaft that 
protruded from my loins, taking most of its length, but she also made 
most wondrous use of her tongue, piercing the tip of the tube of my 
foreskin with it and swirling about the knob within. Her hands likewise 
provided the sack beneath with considerable pleasure, gently kneading 
the spheres within. All the while, as Poulxeria's hands did their work, 
she drew the shaft into the wet cavern of her mouth, pulling her cheeks 
against it. She swirled her tongue under the head, whose bulbous knob 
she had exposed by drawing the skin back with her lips. Holding and 
stroking the shaft with the tips of her long fingers, she ran her soft 
lips over the head, kissing the very tip with a pout. Then she slowly 
sucked it in. Soft waves of wet pleasure crashed against the rocky 
shore of my being as she kissed and licked my throbbing shaft. 

Nor were my hands unoccupied either, for I took the opportunity to 
stroke them over the orbs of her breasts and her behind, and even to 
examine and agitate the plug which held the tail that so delightfully 
adorned her bounteous butt. 

She provided to me an artful and prolonged dalliance, repeatedly 
inserting my member between her pursed lips. As delightful as was this 
oral ministration, I fervently wished to bury my pole in her lovely 
body. I renewed my fervent entreaties while tugging rhythmically at her 
tail. At last Poulxeria relented, opening her mouth and thereby 
allowing my staff to fall from it, to say that I may not have her 
virginity, but that I may instead replace the plug that I had been 
agitating; replace it with the manly shaft she had been polishing. I 
was beside myself with elation. She led me using my stiff wand as a 
handle as she might that of a jug, led me to a side room of the lodge. 

I wasted no time in removing, albeit gently, the pear-shaped gourd and 
long-haired tail that adorned Poulxeria's posterior. She responded by 
anointing my shaft with slippery oil and raising her rump up to me, her 
knees wide-spread upon the floor, her pulchritudinous breasts dangling 
with their nipples nearly touching the pillow beneath her elbows. The 
sight that thus greeted my eyes vied with the most luxuriant sunset at 
sea, the most wondrous alabaster temple, indeed the most glorious sight 
I had previously seen. Poulxeria's sweet globes, and the wondrous 
particulars between them winking at me, were nearly too much to bear. 
With an outcry of joy I impaled her gaping back entrance with one 
massive plunge. 

Nor was I alone in my shout of pleasure, for she called out as well, 
imploring me to continue, to plunder her as exhaustively as I was able. 
And that I did. Holding her hips in hand and probing the depths of her 
entrails, I repeatedly thrust deeply into her. Then, in a most 
un-slave-like fashion, she commanded that I lie back upon the pillows 
and mounted me, sliding my stiffness into her bottom and sitting down 
hard. She rode me, galloping arduously until, with an exclamation and 
an exhortation to Zeus, her belly shook and the vibration of her legs 
nearly brought the building down upon our heads. Then, with her anal 
sheath thus convulsing and clenching my hardness, I too erupted, 
filling her bowels with my hot seed, and roaring like a lion in my 
passions.  When our combined spasms ceased, she collapsed upon me, my 
shaft still staked within her, until, shrunken, it fell out and we 
rolled onto our sides. 

It was in the hushed speech that we then shared, that I learned the 
reason for their insistence upon remaining virginal, for Poulxeria, on 
being thus prodded to speak, told to me a history of the island and its 
people. 

Once, in the past, as she told it to me, the island had been home to 
two tribes; the northerners of whom the slaves had descended, and the 
southerners that were now our hosts. There had been a period of 
indecisive war, neither side gaining ascendancy, until the appearance 
of a clan of Minotaurs. These creatures, half men, half bull, had at 
first devoured all the horses of this island, which accounted for their 
absence today. But then the southerners engaged in an accord with the 
monsters, and the Minotaurs vanquished the tribe of the north. 

The Minotaurs immediately raped and killed all adults of the defeated, 
both sexes of them. And as several of the monsters held them screaming, 
the testicles of the northern boys  were eaten by other Minotaurs right 
off their living bodies, thus accounting for the state of the male 
slaves I had seen, though now grown. However, in the course of the 
drunken victory festivity that followed, the Minotaurs had fallen out 
among themselves, and in a frenzy had killed one another. That is all 
but one, who escaped his comrades by slinking off into the hills. 

Then, the Minotaurs gone, the southerners, who had been cringing in 
fear at the slaughter,  enslaved the girls and the castrated boys of 
the north. And they soon replaced the devoured horses with the slave 
girls, and adorned them as pony-girls as we had seen. 

The one remaining Minotaur was not content with living alone among the 
hills, however. Once each year he descends from his lair and demands as 
tax a fresh young virgin, on pain of wreaking havoc and slaughter upon 
the southerners. Such was to be the fate of one of the young women by 
whom my men and I had been entertained. Poulxeria allowed that she was 
almost too old, at sixteen, to be of interest to the monster. She was, 
therefore, to be at the front of the line the villagers planned to 
present for the Minotaur's selection. 

So I did ask her, inquiring what it was that the Minotaur did with 
these virgins that were thus sacrificed to him. And she did answer, 
saying that it was not known, but generally it is conjectured that he 
would fuck her brains out, Minotaurs being endowed in the manner of 
bulls, and that afterward he might kill her and eat her, not 
necessarily in that order.  

At this I did offer to eat her, but without causing her harm, and she 
smiled and agreed, spreading her thighs to admit my face. Amid sounds 
of pleasure ensuing from her mouth, I feasted on her nectar, swirling 
with the lips of my mouth the lips of her nest, and sucking the tiny 
nut hidden among them. Taking a moment to remove my mouth to do so, I 
asked if she wished for this fate that awaited her. She replied, saying 
that she would much prefer to lose her brains to a human, especially 
one endowed such as I. And, of course, she wished not to be killed. As 
I continued to feast, I considered the situation, and then asked her, 
when it was that the Minotaur would come to exact his tax. 

Tomorrow, was her reply. And so, she added just before she plummeted 
over the brink once more, it must be the hand of Zeus or that of Hera, 
to bring the likes of me to her on the eve of her sacrifice. As I 
caused her to twitch in ecstasy I resolved that this atrocity would not 
take place; that I would bring an end to the tyranny of the Minotaur. 

And it was thus that I devised a plan. I explained the plan to her, and 
then with her willing help, I ruined the chance of the Minotaur to have 
Poulxeria as a virgin. My hardness quickly returned with the assistance 
of her lips and then she lay back on the cushion. Her cry of 
defloration quickly became utterances of pleasure. Shortly after, once 
again she had us trade places and leaped happily onto me, this time 
impaling herself in the more typical way. She bounded upon me, then 
undulated with my phallus deeply in her cavern, then repeatedly leaped 
again, until we both succumbed to our raptures, the hot sheath of her 
vagina pulsating on my deeply buried and erupting shaft. She thence 
held me deeply within her as she collapsed upon my chest. 

After we recovered our wits, I gathered my men, and we rowed once more 
to the ship, where I outlined the rest of my plan. We made our 
preparations. Early the following morning, the entire compliment of my 
men, armed with our shields, swords, spears and slings, rowed quietly 
back to shore. We climbed the low hill and I strode directly to the hut 
of Glaukos, the island leader. Confronting him, I opened my mouth, 
saying that I would not tolerate the Minotaur taking Poulxeria or any 
other girl for his foul pleasures, and that I would stand in the way of 
that. 

Glaukos laughed, saying that many a man had tried that and failed, 
suffering mightily at the hands, and other appendages, of the beast, 
and that my actions of last night only redirected the fate of the 
Minotaur upon another girl. I told him that my men were ready to 
prevent that as well. He laughed and reluctantly agreed, warning that 
the Minotaur's wrath upon me would be intense. 

Truly, the slave girls were eager to agree to my plan, though Glaukos 
seemed to misunderstand the manner in which my men would carry it 
through. The slave girls spent the next hour with my men in the lodge, 
and a great deal of gasping and writhing upon the pillows within it 
occurred while Poulxeria and I stood watch for the Minotaur's 
appearance. Their activities completed, my men exited and hid 
themselves, armed and ready, among the buildings about the village, 
while the women arranged themselves to greet the monster. 

My rage and resolve had not weakened, and so when the beast came into 
the village, I stood in the square before the line of no longer virgin 
pony-girls and with Poulxeria by my side while the villagers cowered in 
fear. 

Seeing me, the beast trumpeted a roar. I opened my mouth and called to 
him that his dominion over the young women was at an end, that there 
were no longer any virgins here, and he should retire forever to his 
lair never to bother the village again, or else to meet his end by my 
hand here in the sand of the square. For reply, he came at me, his 
foul-smelling breath billowing around me as he shouted his refusal. 

It must be said that the beast was quick and strong, for before I was 
able to draw my sword, he was upon me. Thus unarmed, I struck at him 
with my shield, its shining bronze surface catching him on the side, 
but his arms and forelegs struck me terrible blows. My striking only 
served to further enrage him and also to fuel his ardor. My shield flew 
from my arms from his blows and before I knew what was happening, he 
had me turned around, my tunic raised, and his enormous erection, as 
big as my arm, was probing at my rear, spreading my back cheeks and 
searching for a harbor between them. But my stalwart men appeared, with 
slings and spears, to rebuff him and drive him back. More quickly than 
a bolt from Zeus, fifty armed men sprang from behind the buildings. Yet 
somehow he eluded the slung missiles and parried or evaded the thrusts 
of their swords and spears, bellowing roars of anger as he danced with 
an agility unexpected from such a large creature. 

He had flung me to the ground at their attack, and I was turning to 
rise, but once more he was upon me. His powerful arms picked me up and 
he reared, his dreadful member at my anus, ready to split me open. But 
at that moment, Telemetros the lookout dealt the Minotaur a fearsome 
blow upon his hind quarters. I managed to draw my sword and with it 
slashed blindly behind me. A horrendous bellow of rage and pain issued 
from the throat of the monster. He released me as Agelaus and Myrto 
each buried their bronze-tipped spears in the monster's sides. Blood 
spewed from the stump where my sword had severed its penis and from the 
gaping wounds made by my men. As the monster dropped me to the ground 
once more, my sword clattered away from my hand. Despite his mortal 
wounds, the Minotaur was about to trample me, but naked Poulxeria ran 
up, scooped up my weapon and plunged it into the Minotaur’s heart, 
felling it on the spot as I scrambled away. 

Glaukos and the other island men cheered, hardly believing their eyes 
as the Minotaur expired. Agelaus retrieved my sword from the carcass to 
return it to me and Poulxeria bent to my aid. People ran from the 
buildings, filling the square and goggling at the fallen creature. 

Glaukos called for a feast in celebration of their freedom from the 
Minotaur’s tyranny, and to thank us and the Gods. I and my men were 
carried by the crowd to the lodge, and heralded as the heroes of the 
day. Much food and drink were consumed, many gifts were bestowed upon 
all of my men, and, at the end of the evening, my men were spent and 
there was not a virgin left on the island, slave or freeborn. 

The journey home was long, since the winds were contrary and the ships 
laden with island goods. Glaukos and the islanders had also given 
Poulexria to me, as though it had been possible to keep her away from 
me, and so I spent a great deal of the journey in my cabin, engaged in 
explorations having nothing to do with new lands or people. The girl 
was most inventive, and many were the positions and activities that we 
discovered. My concern for the reaction of Thronia when we arrived at 
home were all for nothing, as she had, in the interim, taken up with 
the winemaker. 

Agelaus and Myrto often sailed to the island thereafter, bringing back 
many goods of high value. Each time they gave me a share in their 
profits for having found the place and for making us into heroes. Never 
did they find the Ring of Gygos. I remained at home, for Poulexria kept 
me thoroughly occupied and well drained of the energy for any other 
activity.