noon
` Yea , Proteus , my father , will show thee how to win thy path across the watery waste . No secrets are hidden from him , neither on earth nor in the sea ; and he can tell thee all that hath befallen in thy house in the long years of thine absence . Now hearken , and I will tell thee how thou mayest wring from him all his secrets . Every day at noon he comes forth from the sea , and lays him down to sleep in a rocky cave ; and about him are couched his herd of seals . I will bring thee to the place in the early morning , and set thee in ambush to await his coming . Choose three of the stoutest of thy men to aid thee in the adventure , and as soon as thou seest him asleep rush upon him and hold him fast . He will struggle hard , and take a hundred different shapes ; but loose him not until he return to his own form , and then will he reveal to thee all that he has to tell . '