"You know how you can stare at a bard in wonder –
trained by the gods to sing and hold men spellbound –
how you can long to sit there, listening, all your life
when the man begins to sing. So he charmed my heart,
I tell you, huddling there beside me at my fire."
– Homer
The Odyssey, Book 17, lines 575-579. Eumaeus tells Penelope how the beggar (Odysseus disguised) stayed with him for three days and charmed him with his wonderful storytelling. Using an epic simile, he compares him to a bard trained by the gods who can hold people spellbound.