Achilles, who learned the arts of music, medicine, and war from Chiron, the wisest of the centaurs, is hardly bewildered to keep company with a man who is half shark. Indeed, Nanaue's singular gifts seem to him a great boon on this adventure that carries them into the heaving sea.

Thus bolstering the courage of his companions, by way of the blessing the gods of this land have bestowed upon him, the son of Peleus again seizes hold of the oars to guide the boat across the salt-sharp waves. With the strength of three ordinary men packed into his great limbs, he grants a swiftness to their craft that few could accomplish alone.

"Very well! Let us sing, and perhaps our voices will lure from the sea one of these beasts that we are to slaughter."

So speaking, Achilles launches into a song about the old man of the sea, Nereus, who ruled the waves in the days before the three deathless brothers, Zeus, Poseidon, and Hades, drew lots to determine each one's domain. And as he sings and smites the sea with his oars, the boat draws ever toward the storm-wall that shields Solvunn from their enemies to the north.