White-armed Nausicaa led their singing, dancing beat…
as lithe as Artemis with her arrows striding down
from a high peak – Taygetus’ towering ridge or Erymanthus –
thrilled to race with the wild boar or bounding deer,
and nymphs of the hills race with her,
daughters of Zeus whose shield is storm and thunder,
ranging the hills in sport, and Leto’s heart exults
as head and shoulders over the rest her daughter rises,
unmistakable – she outshines them all, though all are lovely.
So Nausicaa shone among her maids, a virgin, still unwed.
– Homer
The Odyssey, Book 6, lines 112-121. As Nausicaa leads her handmaids in dancing and singing by the sea, the Phaeacian princess is momentarily glorified as a goddess. A Homeric simile compares her to the powerful goddess Artemis racing with her attending nymphs. So Nausicaa is said to outshine all her maidens.