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19 - The Odyssey - Homer · Adventure Books Library

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Book nineteen. Telemachus and Ulysses remove the armor. Ulysses interviews Penelope. Eurycleia,
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washes his feet and recognizes the scar on his leg. Penelope tells her
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dream to Ulysses. Ulysses was left in the cloister, pondering on the means
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whereby, with Minerva's help, he might be able to kill the suitors.
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Presently, he said to Telemachus. Telemachus, we must get the armor together
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and take it down inside. Make some excuse when the suitors ask you why
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you have removed it, Say that you have taken it to be out of
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the way of the smoke, inasmuch as it is no longer what it was
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when Ulysses went away, but has become soiled and begrimed with soot. Add
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to this more particularly, that you are afraid Jove may set them on to
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quarrel over their wine, and that they may do each other some harm,
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which may disgrace both the banquet and the wooing, for the sight of arms
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sometimes tempts people to use them. Telemachus approved of what his father had said,
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so he called his nurse Yurraclia, and said, nurse, shut the
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women up in their room. Will I take the armor that my father left
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behind him down into the store room? No one looks after it now my
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father is gone, and it has got all smirched with soot during my own
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boyhood. I want to take it down where the smoke cannot reach it.
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I wish child, answered Euryclia that you would take the management of the house
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into your own hands altogether and look after all the property yourself. But who
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is to go with you and let you to the store room. The maids
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would have done so, but you would not let them. The stranger,
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said Telemachus, shall show me a light. When people eat my bread,
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they must earn it, no matter where they come from. Euryclia did as
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she was told and bolted the women inside their room. Then Ulysses and his
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son made all haste to take the helmets, shields, and spears inside,
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and Minerva went before them with a golden lamp in her hand that shed a
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soft and brilliant radiance. Whereon Telemachus said, father, my eyes behold a
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great marvel. The walls, with the rafters, cross beams and supports on
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which they rest, are all glowing as with a flaming fire. Surely there
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is some god here who has come down from heaven. Hush, answered Ulysses.
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Hold your peace and ask no questions, for this is the manner of
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the gods. Get you to your bed and leave me here to talk with
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your mother and the maids. Your mother and her grief will ask me all
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sorts of questions. On this Telemachus went by torchlight to the other side of
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the inner court, to the room in which he always slept. There he
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lay in his bed till morning, while Ulysses was left in the cloister,
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pondering on the means whereby, with Minerva's help, he might be able to
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kill the suitors. Then Penelope came down from her room, looking like Venus
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or Diana, and they set her a seat inlaid with scrolls of silver and
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ivory, near the fire in her accustomed place. It had been made by
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Ecmaleius, and had a footstool all in one piece with the seat itself,
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and it was covered with a thick fleece. On this she now sat,
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and the maids came from the women's room to join. They set about removing
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the tables at which the wicked suitors had been dining, and took away the
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bread that was left with the cups from which they had drunk. They emptied
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the ambers, entered the braziers, and heaped much wood upon them to give
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them both light and heat. But Milantho began to rail at Ulysses a second
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time, and said, stranger, do you mean to plague us by hanging
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about the house all night and spying upon the women? Be off, you
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wretch outside and eat your supper there, or you shall be driven out with
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a firebrand. Ulysses scowled at her and answered, my good woman, why
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should you be so angry with me? Is it because I am not clean
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and my clothes are all in rags? And because I am obliged to go
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begging about after the manner of tramps and beggars. Generally, I too was
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a rich man once, and had a fine house of my own. In
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those days, I gave to many a tramp such as I am now,
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no matter who he might be, nor what he wanted. I had any
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number of servants and all the other things which people have who live well,
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and our accounted wealthy. But it pleased Jove to take all away from me.
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Therefore, woman, beware lest you too come to lose that pride and
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place in which you now wanton. Above your fellows, have a care lest
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you get out of favor with your mistress, and lest Ulysses should come home,
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for there is still a chance that he may do so. Moreover,
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though he be as dead as you think he is, yet by Apollo's will,
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he has left a son behind him. Tell Himachus, who will note
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anything done amiss by the maids in the house, for he is now no
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longer in his boyhood. Penelope heard what he was saying and scolded the maid
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impudent baggage. She said, I see how obominably you are behaving, and
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you shall smart for it. You know perfectly well, for I told you
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myself that I was going to see the stranger and ask him about my husband,
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for whose sake I am in such continual sorrow. Then she said to
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her head, waiting woman, urinome, bring a seat with fleece upon it,
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for the stranger to sit upon while he tells his story and listens to
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what I have to say. I wish to ask him some questions. Your
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nomay brought the seat at once and set a fleece upon it, And as
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soon as Ulysses had sat down, Penelope began by saying, stranger, I
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shall first ask you who and whence you are? Tell me of your town
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and parents. Madam answered, ulysses, who in the face of the whole
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earth can dare to chide with you? Your fame reaches the firmament of heaven
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itself. You are like some blameless king who upholds righteousness, as the monarch
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over a great and valiant nation. The earth yielded to beaten barley, the
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trees are loaded with fruit, the ewes bring forth lamb, and the sea
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abounds with fish. By reason of his virtues, and his people do good
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deeds under him. Nevertheless, as I sit here in your house, ask
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me some other question, and do not seek to know my race and family,
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or you will recall memories that will yet more increase my sorrow. I
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am full of heaviness. But I ought not to sit weeping and wailing in
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another person's house. Nor is it well to be the thus grieving continually.
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I shall have one of your servants or even yourself, complaining of me,
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and saying that my eyes swim with tears because I am heavy with wine.
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Then Penelope answered the stranger heaven robbed me of all my beauty, whether of
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face or figure. When the argued set sail for Troy, and my dear
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husband with them. If you were to return and look after my affairs,
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I should be both more respected and I should show a better presence to the
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world. As it is, I am oppressed with care and with the afflictions
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which Heaven has seen fit to heap upon me. The chiefs from all our
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islands, Ntilychium, Samee, and xacythus, as also from Ithaca itself,
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are wooing me against my will, and are wasting my estate. I can
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therefore show no attention to strangers, nor suppliants, nor to the people who
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say that they are skilled artisans, but am all the time broken hearted over
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Ulysses. They want me to marry again at once, and I have invented
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stratagems in order to deceive them. In the first place, Heaven put it
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in to my mind to set up a great tambour frame in my room and
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to begin working upon an enormous piece of fine needlework. Then I said to
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them, sweethearts, Ulysses is indeed dead. Still, do not press me
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to marry again. Immediately, wait for I would not have my skill and
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needlework perish unrecorded till I have finished making a pall for the hero Laerties to
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be ready against the time when death shall take him. He is very rich,
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and the women of the palace will talk if he is laid out without
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a pall. This was what I said, and they assented. Whereon I
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used to keep working at my great web all day long, but at night
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I would unpick the stitches again by torchlight. I fooled them in this way
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for three years without their finding out. But as time wore on, and
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I was now in my fourth year in the waning of the moons, and
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many days had been accomplished, those good for nothing hussies my maids betrayed me
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to the suitors, who broke in upon me and caught me. They were
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very angry with me, so I was forced to finish my work, whether
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I would or no. And now I do not see how I can find
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any further shift for getting out of this marriage. My parents are putting great
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pressure upon me, and my son chafes at the ravages the suitors are making
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upon his estate, for he is now old enough to understand all about it,
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and is perfectly able to look after his own affairs, for Heaven has
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blessed him with an excellent disposition. Still, notwithstanding all this, tell me
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who you are and where you come from, For you must have had a
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father and mother of some sort. You cannot be the son of an oak
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or of a rock, then, Ulysses answered, Madam, wife of Ulysses.
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Since you persist in asking me about my family, I will answer,
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no matter what it costs me. People must expect to be pained when they
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have been exiles as long as I have, and suffered as much among as
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many peoples. Nevertheless, as regards your question, I will tell you all
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you ask. There is a fair and fruitful island in mid ocean called Crete.
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It is thickly peopled, and there are ninety cities in it. The
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people speak many different languages which overlap one another. For there are Achaeans,
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brave Etocretans, Dorians of threefold race, and noble Pelaski. There is a
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great town there, Nassus, where Minos reigned, who every nine years had
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a conference with Jove himself. Minos was father to Deucalion, whose son I
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am. For Deucalion had two sons Idomeneus and myself. Idomeneus sailed for Troy,
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and I, who am the younger, am called Athon. My brother,
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however, was at once the older and the more valiant of the two.
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Hence it was in Crete that I saw Ulysses and showed him hospitality,
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for the winds took him there as he was on his way to Troy,
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carrying him out of his course from Cape Mali, and leaving him in an
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Omnissus, off the cave of Althua, where the harbors are difficult to enter,
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and he could hardly find shelter from the winds that were then raging.
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As soon as he got there, he went into town and asked for Adaminius,
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claiming to be his old and valued friend. But Idomeneus had already set
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sail for Troy, some ten or twelve days earlier. So I took him
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to my own house and showed him every kind of hospitality, for I had
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an abundance of everything. Moreover, I fed the men who were with him
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with barleymeal from the public's store, and got subscriptions of wine and oxen for
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them to sacrifice to their heart's content. They stayed with me twelve days,
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for there was a gale blowing from the north, so strong that one could
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hardly keep one's feet on land. I suppose some unfriendly God had raised it
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for them. But on the thirteenth day the wind dropped and they got away.
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Many plausible tales did Ulysses further tell her, And Penelope wept as she
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listened, for her heart was melted as the snow wastes upon the mountain tops
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when the winds from the southeast and west have breathed upon it, and thought
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it till the rivers run bank full with water. Even so did her cheeks
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overflow with tears. For the husband, who was all the time sitting by
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her side. Ulysses felt for her and was sorry for her. But he
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kept his eyes as hard as horn or iron, without letting them so much
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as quiver. So cunningly did he restrain his tears. Then, when she
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had relieved herself by weeping, she turned to him and said, now,
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stranger, I shall put you to the test and see whether or no you
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really did entertain my husband and his men as you say. You did.
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Tell me then how he was dressed, what kind of man he was to
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look at, and so also with his companions. Madam answered Ulysses, it
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is such a long time ago that I can hardly say twenty years are come
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and gone since he left my home and went elsewhither. But I will tell
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you as well as I can recollect. Ulysses wore a mantle of purple wool,
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double lined, and it was fastened by a gold brooch with two catches
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for the pin. On the face of this there was a device that showed
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a dog holding a spotted fawn between his fore paws, and watching as it
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lay panting upon the ground. Everyone marveled at the way in which these things
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had been done in gold, the dog looking at the fawn and strangling it,
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while the fawn was struggling convulsively to escape. As for the shirt that
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he wore next to his skin, it was so soft that it fitted him
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like the skin of an onion, and glistened in the sunlight, to the
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admiration of all the women who beheld it. Furthermore, I say, and
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lay my saying to your heart, that I do not know whether Ulysses wore
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these clothes when he left home, or whether one of his companions had given
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them to him while he was on his voyage, or possibly some one at
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whose house he was staying, made him a present of them, for he
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was a man of many friends, and had few equals among the Achaeans.
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I myself gave him a sword of bronze and a beautiful purple mantle, double
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lined, with a shirt that went down to his feet, and I sent
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him on board his ship with every mark of honor. He had a servant
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with him, a little older than himself, and I can tell you what
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he was like. His shoulders were hunched, he was dark, and he
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had thick, curly hair. His name was Eurybites. And Ulysses treated him
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with greater familiarity than he did with any of the others, as being the
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most like minded with himself. Penelope was moved still more deeply as she heard
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the indisputable proofs that Ulysses had laid before her, And when she had again
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found relief in tears, she said to him, stranger, I was already
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disposed to pity you, but henceforth you shall be honored and made welcome in
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my house. It was I who gave Ulysses these clothes you speak of.
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I took them out of the storeroom and folded them up myself, and I
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gave him also the gold brooch to wear his noornment alas I shall never welcome
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him home again. It was by an ill fate that he ever set out
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for that detested city whose very name I cannot bring myself to mansion. Then
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Ulysses answered, Madam, wife of Ulysses, do not disfigure yourself further by
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grieving thus bitterly for your loss, though I can hardly blame you for doing
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so. A woman who has loved her husband and borne him children would naturally
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be grieved at losing him, even though he were a worse man than Ulysses,
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who they say is like a god. Still see your tears and listen
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to what I can tell you. I will hide nothing from you, and
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can say with perfect truth that I have lately heard of Ulysses as being alive
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and on his way home. He is among the Thesperteians, and is bringing
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back much valuable treasure that he has begged from one and another of them.
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But his ship and all his crew were lost as they were leaving the Threnacian
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Island. For Jove and the Sun God were angry with him because his men
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had slaughtered the sun God's cattle, and they were all drowned to a man.
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But Ulysses stuck to the keel of his ship and was drifted on to
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the lands of the Phaeacians, who are nearer of kin to the immortals,
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and who treated him as though he had been a god, giving him many
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presents and wishing to escort him home safe and sound. In fact, Ulysses
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would have been here long ago had he not thought better to go from land
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to land gathering wealth. For there is no man living who is so wily
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as he is. There is no one who can compare with him. Fiedon,
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and king of the Thesproteans, told me all this, and he swore
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to me, making drink offerings in his house as he did so that the
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ship was by the water side, and the crew found who would take Ulysses
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to his own country. He sent me off first, for there happened to
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be a Thespertian ship sailing for the wheat growing island of Dolychium. But he
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showed me all the treasure. Ulysses had got together, and he had enough
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lying in the house of King Phadon to keep his family for ten generations.
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But the King said Ulysses had gone to Dodona, that he might learn Jove's
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mind from the high oak tree and know whether, after so long an absence,
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he should return to Ithaca openly or in secret. So you may know
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that he is safe and will be here shortly. He is close at hand
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and cannot remain away from home much longer. Nevertheless, I will confirm my
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words with an oath, and call Jove, who is the first and mightiest
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of the gods, to witness, as also that hearth of Ulysses, to
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which I have now come, that all I have spoken shall surely come to
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pass. Ulysses will return in this self same year, with the end of
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this moon, in the beginning of the next, he will be here.
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May it be even so, answered Penelope, if your words come true,
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you shall have such gifts and such good will from me that all who see
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you shall congratulate you. But I know very well how it will be.
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Ulysses will not return, neither will you get your escort Hens. For so
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surely as that Ulysses ever was, there are no longer any such masters in
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this house as he was to receive honorable strangers, or to further them on
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their way home. And now you maids wash his feet for him, and
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make him bed on a couch with rugs and blankets, that he may be
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warm and quiet till morning. Then at daybreak wash him and anoint him again,
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that he may sit in the cloister and take his meals with Telemachus.
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It shall be the worse for any one of these hateful people who is uncivil
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to him, Like it or not, he shall have no more to do
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in this house. For how sir, shall you be able to learn whether
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or not I am superior to all others of my sex, both in goodness
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of heart and understanding, if I let you dine in my cloisters. Squalid
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and ill clad men live but for a little season. If they are hard
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and deal hardly, people wish them ill so long as they are alive,
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and speak contemptuously of them when they are dead. But he that is righteous
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and deals righteously, the people tell of his praises among all the lands,
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and many shall call him blessed. Ulysses answered, Madam, I have forced
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worn rugs and blankets from the day I left the snowy ranges of crete to
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go on shipboard I will lie as I have lain on many a sleepless night
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hitherto night after night have I passed in any rough sleeping place and waited for
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morning? Nor again do I like having my feet washed. I shall not
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let any of the young hussies about your house touch my feet. But if
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you have an old and respectable woman who has gone through as much trouble as
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I have, I will allow her to wash them. To this Penelope,
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said my dear sir. Of all the guests whoever yet came to my house,
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there never was one who spoke in all things with such admirable propriety as
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you do. There happens to be in the house a most respectable woman,
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the same who received my poor dear husband in her arms the knight he was
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born, and nursed him in infancy. She is very feeble now, but
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she shall wash your feet. Come here, said she, Euyclia, and
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wash your master's age. Mate. I suppose Ulysses hands and feet are very
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much the same now as his are. For trouble ages, all of us
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dreadfully fast on these words. The old woman covered her face with her hands.
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She began to weep and made lamentations. Saying, my dear child,
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I cannot think whatever I am to do with you. I am certain no
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one was ever more god fearing than yourself, And yet Jove hates you.
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No one in the whole world ever burned him more thigh bones, nor gave
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him finer hecatomes. When you prayed you might come to a green old age
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yourself and see your son grow up to take after you. Yet see how
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you has prevented you alone from ever getting back to your own home. I
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have no doubt the woman in some foreign place which ulysses have got to are
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giving at him, as all these slots here have been giving at you.
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I do not wonder at your not choosing to let them wash you after the
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manner in which they have insulted you. I will wash your feet gladly enough,
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as Penelope has said I am to do so. I shall wash them
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both for Penelope's sake and for your own. For you have raised the most
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lively feelings of compassion in my mind. And let me say this moreover,
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which pray attend to. We have had all kinds of strangers in distress come
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here before now. But I make bold to say that no one ever yet
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came, who was so like Ulysses in figure, voice and feet as you
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are. Those who have seen us both answered, Ulysses have always said that
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we were wonderfully like each other, and now you have noticed it too.
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Then the old woman took the cauldron in which she was going to wash his
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feet, and poured plenty of cold water into it, adding hot till the
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bath was warm enough. Ulysses sat by the fire, but ere long he
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turned away from the light, for it occurred to him that when the old
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woman had hold of it leg, she would recognize a certain scar which it
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bore, whereon the whole truth would come out. And indeed, as soon
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as she began washing her master, she at once knew the scar as one
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that had been given him by a wild boar when he was hunting on Mount
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Parnassus with his excellent grandfather Attolychus, who was the most accomplished thief and perjurer
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in the whole world, and with the sons of Autolychus. Mercury himself had
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endowed him with this gift, for he used to burn the thigh bones of
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goats and kids to him. So he took pleasure in his companionship. It
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happened once that Autolycus had gone to Ithaca and had found the child of his
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daughter just born. As soon as he had done his supper, Euryclia had
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set the infant upon his knee and said, Autolycus, you must find a
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name for your grandson. You greatly wished that you might have one son in
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law and daughter, replied Attolychus, call the child. Thus, I am
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highly displeased with a large number of people in one place and another, both
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men and women. So named the child Ulysses, or the ch child of
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Anger. When he grows up and comes to visit his mother's family on Mount
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Parnassus, where my possessions lie, I will make him a present and will
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send him on his way. Rejoicing, Ulysses therefore went to Parnassus to get
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the presents from Autolychus, who with his sons, shook hands with him and
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gave him welcome. His grandmother Amphithea threw her arms around him and kissed his
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head and both his beautiful eyes. While Autolychus desired his sons to get dinner
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ready, and they did as he told them. They brought in a five
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year old bull flayed it and made it ready to divide into joints. These
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they cut carefully into smaller pieces and spitted them. They roasted them sufficiently and
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served the portions round. Thus, through the livelong day to the going down
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of the sun they feasted, and every man had his full share. So
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they were all satisfied. But when the sunset and it came on dark,
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they went to bed and enjoyed the boon of sleep. When the child of
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morning, rosy fingered dawn appeared, the sons of Autolychus went out with their
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hounds hunting, and Ulysses went too. They kind the wooded slopes of Pharnassus
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and soon reached its breezy upland valleys. But as the sun was beginning to
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beat upon the fields, fresh risen from the slow still currents of Oceanus,
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they came to a mountain dell. The dogs were in front, searching for
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the tracks of the beast they were chasing, and after them came the sons
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of Autolachis, among whom was Ulysses close behind the dogs and had a long
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spear in his hand. Here was the layer of a huge boar among some
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thick brushwood so dense that the wind and rain could not get through it,
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nor could the sun's rays pierce it, and the ground underneath lay thick with
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fallen leaves. The boar heard the noise of the men's feet and the hounds
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baying on every side as the huntsmen came up to him, so he rushed
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from his lair, raised the bristles on his neck, and stood at bay
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with fire flashing from his eyes. Ulysses was the first to raise his spear
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and tried to drive it into the brute, but the boar was too quick
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for him and charged him sideways, ripping him above the knee with a gash
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that tore deep, though it did not reach the bone. As for the
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boar, Ulysses hid him in the right shoulder, and the point of the
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spear went right through him, so that he fell groaning in the dust until
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the life went out of him. The sons of Autolychus busied themselves with the
23:10
carcass of the boar and bound Ulysses wound. Then, after saying a spell
23:15
to stop the bleeding, they went home as fast as they could. But
23:18
when Autolycus and his sons had thoroughly healed Ulysses. They made him some splendid
23:23
presents and sent him back to Ithaca with much mutual good will. When he
23:27
got back, his father and mother were rejoiced to see him and asked him
23:32
all about it and how he had hurt himself to get the scar So he
23:34
told them how the boar had ripped him when he was out hunting with Autolychus
23:38
and his sons on Mount Parnassus. As soon as Euryclia had got the scarred
23:42
limb in her hands and had well hold of it, she recognized it and
23:45
dropped the foot at once. The leg fell into the bath, which rang
23:51
out and was overturned, so that all the water spilt on the ground.
23:53
Eurycleia's eyes, between her joy and her grief, filled with tears. She
23:57
could not speak, but she caught Ulysses by the beard and said, my
24:03
dear child, I am sure you must be Ulysses himself. Only I did
24:07
not know you till I had actually touched and handled you. As she spoke,
24:11
she looked towards Penelope, as though wanting to tell her that her dear
24:14
husband was in the house. But Penelope was unable to look in that direction
24:18
and observe what was going on, for Minerva had diverted her attention. So
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Ulysses caught Euryclia by the throat with his right hand, and with his left
24:26
drew her close to him and said, nurse, do you wish to be
24:29
the ruin of me? You who nursed me at your breast? Now that
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after twenty years of wandering, I am at last come to my own house
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again, since it has been borne in upon you by Heaven to recognize me.
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Hold dear tongue, and do not say a word about it to any
24:44
one else in the house, for if you do, I tell you,
24:47
and it shall surely be true, that if Heaven grants me to take the
24:49
lives of these suitors, I shall not spare you, though you are my
24:52
own nurse, when I am killing the other women. My child answered,
24:56
Euaclia, what are you talking about? You know very well that nothing can
25:00
either bend or break me. I will hold my tongue like a stone or
25:04
a piece of iron. Furthermore, let me say and lay my saying to
25:08
your heart. When Heaven has delivered the suitors into your hand, I will
25:12
give you a list of women in the house who have been ill behaved and
25:15
of those who are guiltless, and Ulysses answered, nurse, you ought not
25:21
to speak in that way. I am well able to form my own opinion
25:23
about one and all of them. Hold your tongue and leave everything to heaven.
25:29
As he said this, Euryclia left the cloister to fetch the more water,
25:33
for the first had been all spilt. And when she had washed his
25:34
feet and anointed him with oil, Ulysses drew his seat nearer to the fire
25:38
to warm himself, and hid his scar under his rags. Then Penelope began
25:44
talking to him and said, stranger, I should like to speak with you
25:48
briefly about another matter. It is indeed nearly bedtime for those at least who
25:52
can sleep in spite of sorrow. As for myself, Heaven has given me
25:56
a life of such unmeasurable woe that even by day, when I am attending
26:00
to my duties and looking after the servants, I am still weeping and lamenting
26:04
during the whole time. Then when night comes and we all of us go
26:08
to bed, I lie awake thinking, and my heart becomes prey to the
26:12
most incessant and cruel tortures. As the dune Nightingale, daughter of Pandarius,
26:18
sings in the early spring from her seat in the shadiest covered head, and
26:22
with many a pointive trill, pours out the tale of how by mishap she
26:26
killed her own child to Tylus, son of King Zethus. Even so does
26:30
my mind toss and turn in its uncertainty, whether I ought to stay with
26:33
my son here and safeguard my substance, my bondsmen, and the greatness of
26:37
my house out of regard for public opinion and the memory of my late husband,
26:42
or whether it is now time for me to go with the best of
26:45
these suitors who are wooing me and making me such magnificent presents. As long
26:49
as my son was still young and unable to understand, he would not hear
26:53
of my leaving my husband's house. But now that he is full grown,
26:56
he begs and prays me to do so, being incense at the way in
27:00
which the suitors are eating up his property. Listen then to a dream I
27:03
have had, and interpret it for me, if you can. I have
27:07
twenty geese about the house that eat mash out of a trough, and which
27:11
I am exceedingly fond of. I dreamed that a great eagle came swooping down
27:15
from a mountain and dug his curved beak into the neck of each of them,
27:18
till he had killed them all. Presently, he soared off into the
27:22
sky and left them dead about the yard, whereon I wept in my dream,
27:26
till all my maids gathered round me. So piteously was I grieving because
27:29
the eagle had killed my geese. Then he came back to me again,
27:33
and, perching on a projecting rafter, spoke to me with a human voice
27:37
and told me to leave off crying. Be of good courage. She said,
27:41
Daughter of Vicarius, this is no dream, but a vision of good
27:45
omen that shall surely come to pass. The geese are the suitors, and
27:48
I am no longer an eagle, but your own husband, who am come
27:52
back to you, and who will bring these suitors to a disgraceful end.
27:56
On this I awoke, and when I looked out, I saw my geese
27:59
at the trout, eating their mash as usual this dream, Madam replied,
28:03
Ulysses can admit but one interpretation, for had not Ulysses himself told you how
28:08
it should be fulfilled. The death of the suitors is portended, and not
28:12
one single one of them will escape. And Penelope answered, stranger dreams are
28:18
very curious and unaccountable things, and they do not, by any means invariably
28:23
come true. There are two gaits through which these unsubstantial fancies proceed. The
28:29
one is of Horn, the other Ivory. Those that come through the gate
28:32
of Ivory are fatuous, but those from the gate of Horn mean something to
28:36
those who see them. I do not think, however, that my own
28:40
dreams come through the gate of Horn, though I and my son should be
28:42
most thankful if it proves to have done so. Furthermore, I say,
28:47
and lay my saying to your heart, the coming dawn will usher in the
28:49
ill omened day, that is to sever me from the house of Ulysses.
28:53
For I am about to hold a tournament of axes. My husband used to
28:56
set up twelve axes in the court, one in front of the other,
29:00
that like the stays upon which a ship is built. He would then go
29:03
back from them and shoot an arrow through the whole twelve. I shall make
29:07
the suitors try to do the same thing, and whichever of them can string
29:10
the bow the most easily and send his arrow through all twelve axes him,
29:14
will I follow and quit the house of my lawful husband, so goodly and
29:18
so abounding in wealth. But even so I doubt not that I shall remember
29:22
it in my dreams. Then Ulysses answered, Madam, wife of Ulysses,
29:27
you need not defer your tournament, for Ulysses will return ere ever they can
29:30
string the bow, handle it how they will, and send their arrows through
29:34
the iron. To this, Penelope said, as long sir, as you
29:38
sit here and talk to me, I can have no desire to go to
29:41
bed. Still, people cannot do permanently without sleep, and Heaven has appointed
29:45
us dwellers on earth a time for all things. I will therefore go upstairs
29:49
and recline upon that couch which I have never ceased to flood with my tears
29:53
from the day Ulysses set out for the city with a hateful name. She
29:57
then went upstairs to her own way, not alone, but attended by her
30:02
maids, And when there she lamented her dear husband till Minerva shed sweet sleep
30:06
over her eyelids. End of book nineteen