The daughters of Celeus caught sight of her as they came

that way to draw water, and carry it back

to their father’s place in great big pitchers of bronze:

Callidicē and Clisidicē, beautiful Dēmō

and Callithoē, the eldest girl of all four,

more like goddesses in the first flower of youth.

They had no idea who she was – it’s hard for people

to recognise gods – so they came straight up to her

and demanded, ‘Madam, where have you come from

and who, of all the old women here, are you?

Why is it that you’ve walked out past the town

and don’t go to its houses? Plenty of ladies

the same age as you, and others who are younger,

are there now, in buildings sheltered from the heat,

to welcome you with a kind word and a kind turn.’

When they had done, the royal goddess replied:

‘Good day to you, girls, whoever you may be;

I’ll tell you what you want to know, for it’s surely

not wrong, when you’re asked, to explain the truth.

I am called Grace – my mother gave me that name –

and I have travelled on the broad back of the sea

all the way from Crete – not wanting to, but forced

to make the journey by men who had snatched me,

gangsters, all of them. In that fast ship of theirs

they put in at Thoricos, where the women

disembarked together, and they themselves began

making their supper down by the stern-cables.

But I had no appetite for any meal that they made,

and when their backs were turned I disappeared

into dark country, and escaped from those men

before they could sell me, stolen goods, at a

good price, bullies and fixers that they were.

That’s how I arrived like a vagrant, and I

don’t know what country it is, or who lives here.

May the gods who have their homes on Olympus

send you good husbands and plenty of children

to please the parents; but now, spare a thought

for me, like the well brought-up girls that you are,

and maybe I can come to one of your houses

to do some honest work for the ladies and gentlemen

living there, the kind of thing a woman of my age

does best: I can nurse a new baby, and hold

him safe in my arms; I can keep the place clean;

I can make up the master’s bed in a corner

of the great bedchamber, and give all the right

instructions to serving women in the house.’

It was the goddess who said this; immediately

the girl Callidicē, loveliest of Celeus’ daughters,

spoke back to her, calling her Grandma, and saying:

‘Whatever the gods give, however grievous the hardship,

people put up with it, as they must, for the gods

are that much stronger: it’s just how things are.

But something I can do is tell you the names