"Your majesty," diplomatic Odysseus answered,
don’t find fault with a flawless daughter now,
not for my sake, please.
She urged me herself to follow with her maids.
I chose not to, fearing embarrassment in fact –
what if you took offense, seeing us both together?
Suspicious we are, we men who walk the earth."
– Homer
The Odyssey, Book 7, lines 346-350. When Alcinous criticizes his daughter for failing to escort her guest Odysseus to the palace and letting him walk in alone, Odysseus lies. But his deception is a commendable one. He doesn’t reveal that it was Nausicaa herself told him not to accompany her in case it would cause scandal. Instead he takes the blame by saying that he told her not to, for fear it would embarrass and offend the king.