When Telemachus went to bed, Penelope came into the banquet hall with her slaves. The slaves placed an ivory chair trimmed with silver for their mistress near the hearth, and they themselves began to clear the table

download in (.doc) format

When Telemachus went to bed, Penelope came into the banquet hall with her slaves. The slaves placed an ivory chair trimmed with silver for their mistress near the hearth, and they themselves began to clear the table at which the suitors were feasting. The slave Melanto again began to revile Odysseus, drive him out of the house and threaten him that she would throw a hot brand at him if he did not leave. Odysseus looked at her gloomily and said:

Why are you angry with me? It's true, I'm a beggar! This was my lot, and there was a time when I was rich; but I lost everything by the will of Zeus. Perhaps you too will soon lose your beauty, and your mistress will hate you. Look, Odysseus will return, and you will have to answer for your insolence. If he does not return, then Telemachus is at home, he knows how slaves behave. Nothing can be hidden from him!

I heard the words of Odysseus and Penelope and she angrily said to Melantho:

You're angry at everyone, like a chained dog! Look, I know how you act! You will have to pay with your head for your behavior. Don't you know that I myself called this wanderer here?

Penelope ordered a chair to be placed near the hearth for Odysseus and, when he sat down next to her, she began to ask him about Odysseus. The wanderer told her that he himself had once received Odysseus as a guest on Crete, when he, caught in a storm, landed on the shores of Crete on the way to Troy. Penelope began to cry when she heard that the wanderer had seen Odysseus twenty years ago. Wanting to check whether he was telling the truth, Penelope asked him how Odysseus was dressed. Nothing was easier for the wanderer than to describe his own clothes. He described her in great detail, and then Penelope believed him. The wanderer began to assure her that Odysseus was alive, that he had recently been in the country of the Thesprotians, and from there he went to Dodona to ask the oracle of Zeus there.

Odysseus will return soon! - said the wanderer, - before the year ends, before the new moon comes, Odysseus will return.

Penelope would have been glad to believe him, but she could not, because she had been waiting for Odysseus for so many years, and he still did not return. Penelope ordered the slaves to prepare a soft bed for the wanderer. Odysseus thanked her and asked old Eurycleia to wash his feet first.

Eurycleia willingly agreed to wash the wanderer’s feet: his height, his appearance, and even his voice reminded her of Odysseus, whom she herself had once nursed. Eurycleia brought water in a copper basin and bent down to wash the wanderer’s feet. Suddenly the scar on his leg caught her eye. She knew this scar well. A boar once inflicted a deep wound on Odysseus when he was hunting with the sons of Autolycus on the slopes of Parnassus. It was by this scar that Eurycleia recognized Odysseus. She knocked over a basin of water in amazement. Tears clouded her eyes, and in a voice trembling with joy she said:

Odysseus, is it you, my dear child? How did I not recognize you before!

Eurycleia wanted to tell Penelope that her husband had finally returned, but Odysseus hastily covered her mouth with his hand and said quietly:

Yes, I am Odysseus, whom you nursed! But be silent, do not give away my secret, otherwise you will destroy me. Be careful not to tell anyone about my return! I will subject you to severe punishment and will not spare you, although you are my nurse, when I punish the slaves for their misdeeds, if they learn from you that I have returned.

Eurycleia swore to secrecy. Rejoicing at the return of Odysseus, she brought more water and washed his feet. Penelope didn't notice what happened; The goddess Athena captured her attention.

When Odysseus sat down again by the fire, Penelope began to complain about her bitter fate and talked about the dream she had recently seen. She saw that an eagle had torn to pieces all her snow-white domestic geese, and all the women of Ithaca mourned them with her. But suddenly the eagle flew back, sat on the roof of the palace and said in a human voice: “Penelope, this is not a dream, but a sign of what will happen. The geese are the suitors, but I am Odysseus, who will return soon.”

Odysseus told Penelope that her dream, like what she herself saw, was so clear that it was not worth interpreting. But Penelope could not even believe such a dream; she did not believe that Odysseus would finally return. She told the wanderer that she decided to test the suitors the next day: take out Odysseus’s bow and invite them to pull it and hit the target; She decided to choose the one who would do this as her husband. The wanderer advised Penelope not to put off this test and added:

Before any of the suitors draws their bow and hits their target, Odysseus returns.

This is how Penelope spoke to the wanderer, not suspecting that she was speaking to Odysseus. But it was already too late. Although Penelope was ready to talk all night long with the wanderer, it was still time for her to retire. She got up and went to her chamber with all the slaves, and there the goddess Athena plunged her into a sweet sleep.

Odysseus, having made himself a bed of bull skin and sheepskin, lay down on it, but could not sleep. He kept thinking about how to take revenge on the suitors. The goddess Athena approached his bed; she reassured him, promised her help and said that all his troubles would soon end.

Finally, the goddess Athena put Odysseus to sleep. But he did not sleep for long; he was awakened by the loud cry of Penelope, who complained that the gods were not allowing Odysseus to return. Odysseus got up, removed his bed and, going out into the courtyard, began to pray to Zeus to send him a good sign in the first words that he heard that morning. Zeus heeded Odysseus, and a thunderclap rolled across the sky. The first words Odysseus heard were the words of a slave grinding flour in a hand mill. She wanted this to be the last day that the suitors would spend feasting in Odysseus’s house. Odysseus rejoiced. Now he knew that Zeus the Thunderer would help him take revenge on the suitors.

After 20 years, Odysseus finally finds himself in Ithaca, the goddess Athena appears to him, who helps him hide the treasures given to Odysseus by the Phaeacians. Athena informs Odysseus that for three years now Penelope has been besieged by suitors who are in charge of Odysseus’s house. To prevent Odysseus from being recognized and killed by Penelope’s suitors, Athena changes the hero’s appearance by touching him with a magic wand:

The beautiful skin on the elastic members immediately wrinkled,
The skull was stripped of its brown hair; and his whole body
It immediately became like that of the most decrepit old man.
The eyes, so beautiful before, became cloudy.
She dressed his body with nasty sackcloth and a tunic -
Dirty, torn, thoroughly smoked and stinking.
She covered her shoulders with a large, peeling deerskin.
She gave Odysseus a stick and a pathetic bag,
It's all patched, full of holes, and the bandage for it is made of rope.

(Homer "Odyssey", canto 13)

The transformed hero finds shelter with the swineherd Eumaeus, with whom Odysseus reveals himself to his son Telemachus (Athena temporarily returns Odysseus to his former appearance), ordering him to keep his father’s return a secret from everyone.

Georges Truffaut. Odysseus and Telemachus

Then Odysseus, in the guise of an old beggar, comes to his house, where only the old dog Argus recognizes him.

In his home, Odysseus is bullied by his suitors. Penelope, noticing Odysseus, did not recognize him and wanted to ask if he had heard something about her husband. Penelope tells the guest that for three years now she has been able to convince the suitors, eager for her hand and the royal crown, to postpone the wedding under the pretext that it is necessary to weave a funeral shroud for Laertes, the father of Odysseus. However, Penelope unraveled what she had woven during the day at night, until one day she was exposed.

Odysseus pretends to be a Cretan who once met Odysseus and treated him to his house. Odysseus consoles Penelope and tells her that her husband will soon return home. Penelope orders her old slave Eurycleia, Odysseus's nurse, to wash her guest's feet. Eurycleia recognizes Odysseus by a scar on his leg, received while hunting. However, Odysseus orders Eurycleia not to reveal the truth to anyone.

At the suggestion of Athena, Penelope decides to organize an archery competition, the winner of which will marry her. You will have to shoot from the bow of Odysseus (this bow once belonged to Hercules) so that the arrow passes through 12 rings.

None of the suitors can even put a string on the bow, after which Telemachus convinces Penelope to return to him, and he allows his father to try to pass the test. Odysseus strings his bow, shoots and the arrow passes through 12 rings.

After this, Odysseus reveals his real name to the suitors and, together with Telemachus, they kill all the suitors. Athena returns Odysseus to his former appearance and he goes to Penelope, who still cannot recognize him. Offended Odysseus says to his wife:

"Strange woman! The gods who live in the houses of Olympus,
They put a strong heart in you among the wives of the weak!
It is unlikely that another wife would stand at a distance from her husband
So indifferent when, having endured countless sufferings,
He finally returned to his homeland in his twentieth year.
That's it, mother: give me the bed! What should I do, I'm alone
I'll lie down. This woman apparently has a heart of iron!”

(Homer "Odyssey", canto 23)

To which Penelope responds:

"You are strange! I am not at all proud, I have no contempt
And I'm not angry with you. I remember perfectly how you are
Was, leaving Ithaca in his long-oared ship.
OK then! Bed, Eurycleia, on his bed,
Only outside, not in the bedroom he built himself.
Place a strong bed out of the bedroom, and you will lay it on it.
Soft sheepskin, cover with a blanket, put pillows."
So she said, putting him to the test.

Then Odysseus says that it is impossible to move the bed, because... he himself made it on the top of the trunk of a huge olive tree. Only by cutting down the olive trunk can the bed be moved from its place.

After this, Penelope realizes that this is really her husband.

Homer's Odyssey ends with Athena establishing peace between Odysseus and the relatives of the murdered suitors.

However, the adventures of Odysseus do not end there, because... he must make another journey, predicted to him by the soothsayer Tiresias:

Go again
Wander, choosing an oar according to your hand, and wander until
You won’t come to the land to men who don’t know the sea,
They never salt their food, they have never seen
Purple-cheeked ships, never seen and built solidly
The oars that serve as wings for our ships at sea.
I will tell you the most reliable sign, it will not deceive:
If another traveler who meets you says,
That on your shining shoulder you hold a winnowing shovel, -
Immediately stick your strong oar into the ground,
And the boar that covers the pigs, the bull and the ram
Slay the shaker of the depths of Poseidon with a beautiful victim, -
And return home, and the saints complete hecatombs
To the ever-living gods who own the wide sky,
First things first. Then not among the waves of an angry sea
Quietly death will descend upon you. And, overtaken by her,
In your bright old age you will die calmly, surrounded by universal
The happiness of your peoples.

(Homer "Odyssey", canto 11).

According to one of the myths, Telegon (the son of Odysseus and Circe) went in search of his father. Arriving at Ithaca and not knowing what kind of island it is, Telegon attacks the herds grazing here. Odysseus enters into battle with Telegonus, but the son kills his father with a spear with a tip not made of metal, but from a stingray thorn. Having learned the bitter truth that he killed his father, Telegon takes Penelope as his wife. Circe gives Telegonus and Penelope immortality and takes them to the islands of the blessed. Thus, Penelope in the afterlife is not connected with Odysseus at all. Ancient Greek mythology knows such amazing cases: for example, Achilles was associated with Medea in the posthumous, despite the fact that he did not even meet her during life.
There is also a hint in Homer's Odyssey that Penelope is not his significant other.

Penelope, the suitors and the veil. Odysseus was not at home for twenty whole years: for ten of them he fought under the walls of Troy and for ten he wandered the seas and lived with the nymph Calypso. What happened in Ithaca in his absence? During this time, his son Telemachus grew up and became a strong and beautiful twenty-year-old youth; Penelope, the wife of Odysseus, patiently waited for her husband's return, but the trouble was that her suitors tortured her. Thinking that Odysseus would not return from the campaign, that he was no longer alive, they came to Penelope’s palace and began to demand that she make a choice and take one of them as her husband. There were a lot of them, they came from the best families of Ithaca and the surrounding islands, persistently seeking an answer. But it was not only love for the beautiful Penelope that guided them; By marrying her, they hoped to gain royal power in Ithaca. At first, Penelope refused everyone, saying that Odysseus was alive and a reliable oracle had predicted his return. Later, when the suitors became very insistent, she told them: “Okay! I will make a choice, but first I will finish weaving the bedspread, work on which I have already begun.” The suitors agreed to wait. And for several years Penelope wove a blanket during the day, and in the evening she dismissed the work. All this time, the suitors lived in Odysseus’s palace, drank his wine, ate his pigs, sheep, cows, and disposed of his property and slaves as if they were their own.

Telemachus tries to find out about his father. Meanwhile Telemachus grew up; He didn’t like this behavior of uninvited guests in his father’s house, but what could he do? There was no news from Odysseus for many years. And then Telemachus decided to find his former comrades and at least find out something about his father. He equipped a fast ship, gathered a fearless crew and went to sea. His path lay in sandy Pylos, where the wise old man Nestor ruled. The king of Pylos received him with honor; He was glad to see the son of his comrade, but he knew nothing about the fate of Odysseus. “Don't despair! - said Nestor. “The gods will help you find out where your father is now.” Go to Menelaus. He returned home later than others, maybe he knows something.” After spending the night with Nestor, Telemachus went to Menelaus. And, indeed, rumors reached Menelaus that Odysseus was languishing on the island of the nymph Calypso. Telemachus thanked Menelaus for this news and set off on the return journey.

Return of Odysseus. Athena Council. Odysseus woke up and did not recognize Ithaca; everything around was covered in thick fog. In despair, he thought that the Phaeacians had deceived him and landed him on some unknown shore. But then he saw a beautiful young man walking along the seashore. “What land am I in?” - Odysseus asked and heard in response that he was in Ithaca. Odysseus was delighted, and the young man suddenly changed his image: Athena herself stood before him. “So you have returned home, Odysseus,” she said. “But don’t rush to reveal to people who you are.” Look around a little, now I’ll help you.” With these words, she turned Odysseus into a wretched beggar so that no one could recognize him, and ordered him to go to the home of the swineherd Eumaeus.

The slave Eumaeus does not recognize Odysseus. Eumaeus was a slave who served Odysseus for a long time and faithfully, but even he did not recognize his master - this is how Athena changed his appearance. Eumaeus fed him and gave him something to drink, and then began to ask him about the lands that the wanderer had visited. Odysseus composed a whole story about himself, and ended with the words: “I also heard about your king. They say that he returns to his homeland with rich gifts.” Eumaeus did not immediately believe him, but Odysseus said: “If this is not so, if Odysseus does not return to his homeland, you can throw me down from the top of the cliff, so that in the future it will be discouraging for various vagabonds to spread rumors.”

Meeting with Telemachus. Odysseus spent the night in the hut of Eumaeus, and in the morning Telemachus, who had returned from his wanderings, came there, as Athena ordered him to do. Telemachus sent Eumaeus to the city to inform his mother about his return and find out what was happening in the palace. When they remained in the hut alone with Odysseus, Athena returned Telemachus’ father to his true image, beautiful and majestic. Telemachus was frightened: he thought that one of the immortal gods had appeared, but Odysseus calmed him down; He told Telemachus about his adventures, and he himself asked him about everything that was happening in Ithaca. When Odysseus heard about the atrocities of the suitors, his heart was filled with anger. Odysseus decided to take revenge on them. “This is impossible, father! - Telemachus exclaimed. “There are more than a hundred of them, and there are only two of us!” “That’s all true, my son,” answered Odysseus, “but we have helpers with whom mortals cannot fight - the thunderer Zeus himself and his daughter, Pallas Athena.” They agreed that Telemachus would go to the city alone in the morning, and later Odysseus would come there along with Eumaeus. After this, Athena again turned Odysseus into a wretched beggar.

Odysseus disguised as a wanderer. Leaning on a stick, Odysseus slowly walked towards his palace. He walked over and sat down at the very entrance, leaning against the door. Telemachus saw him and sent him bread and meat. Odysseus ate, and then approached the suitors and began to beg. Everyone gave him something, only the cruel and rude Antinous refused the beggar and even beat him. Penelope saw this and was indignant: after all, in her house they treated the stranger so rudely. “I believe that Odysseus will cruelly take revenge on the suitors for this when he returns!” - she exclaimed. As soon as she said these words, Telemachus sneezed loudly. Penelope was delighted: she thought that this was a good sign that sooner or later her husband would return home. Odysseus stayed at the feast until evening, receiving table scraps and watching the drunken suitors run amok; His heart became more and more inflamed with anger, but he restrained himself, obeying the will of Athena. The impudent suitors had no idea how close their death was.

Conversation with Penelope. In the evening, when the suitors fell asleep, Odysseus and Telemachus removed all the weapons from the banquet hall, took them to the pantry and locked them there. Odysseus wanted to go to bed, but then Penelope and her maids entered the hall. She sat down next to Odysseus and began asking if he had met her husband during his wanderings. Odysseus answered her: “He was once a guest in my house; and then I heard that he was already on the road to the house. Believe me, lady, before the year ends, he will be here.”

Penelope was glad to believe him, but she could not: after all, she had been waiting for his return for so many years... Penelope ordered the maids to prepare a soft bed for the wanderer, and Eurycleia, Odysseus’s old nanny, brought water in a copper basin to wash his feet.

“My dear child”: the nanny recognizes Odysseus. Eurycleia bent down and began to wash her guest’s feet. And suddenly I noticed a scar on my leg. His old nanny knew him well; Odysseus was once wounded by a boar while hunting. Out of excitement, Eurycleia knocked over a basin of water; Tears flowed from her eyes, she asked in a trembling voice: “Is it you, Odysseus, my dear child? How come I didn’t recognize you right away!”

She wanted to call Penelope, but Odysseus covered her mouth and whispered: “Yes, it’s me, Odysseus, whom you nursed! But don’t tell anyone my secret, otherwise you will destroy me!” Eurycleia swore to remain silent, but Penelope did not notice what happened - Athena distracted her attention. After talking with the wanderer, Penelope went to her chambers. Odysseus fell asleep; but he did not sleep for long - he was awakened by loud crying; it was Penelope who cried and prayed to the gods to quickly bring her husband home.

Penelope announces the decision. Morning has come. The suitors appeared again in the banquet hall. They sat down at the tables and the feast began. Odysseus was also in the hall, disguised as a wanderer, and his suitors again subjected him to insults. The frantic cries of the feasting suitors could even be heard as far as Penelope’s chambers.

But then Penelope entered the hall. She held Odysseus's bow in her hands. "Listen to me! - she said. - I decided to make my choice. Whoever pulls this bow and shoots an arrow so that it goes through twelve rings, I will marry him!” She knew that only Odysseus could handle this bow. Having said this, Penelope went to her chambers.

The suitors began to approach the bow one after another, but no one was able to even bend it. Odysseus then asked: “Let me try my hand.” The suitors got angry: “You are completely out of your mind, tramp! It’s not enough for you that you feast in our society and listen to our conversations. Sit down and don’t dare to compete with the young!” Odysseus would not have received the bow, but Telemachus called Eumaeus and ordered him to give the weapon to the wanderer. Eumaeus already knew who this wanderer was, and therefore took the bow and presented it to his master.

Odysseus takes revenge on the uninvited suitors. Odysseus took the bow in his hands and carefully examined it, like a musician, preparing to begin a chant, examines his instrument; then easily, in one movement, he bent the bow and pulled the string. A terrible weapon was in the hands of Odysseus; the bowstring rang menacingly, and, echoing it, a clap of thunder came from the sky: it was the thunderer Zeus himself who gave a good sign to Odysseus. The suitors turned pale, and Odysseus took an arrow from his quiver and, without getting up from his seat, fired it at the target; The arrow flew through all twelve rings. “I have not put you to shame, Telemachus, your guest! - Odysseus exclaimed. He threw off his rags, poured arrows from his quiver onto the floor and turned to the suitors: “Ah, despicable dogs! Did you think I wouldn't come back? Why will you rob my house with impunity? No! Death awaits you all for this!”

The suitors rushed to arms, but they were not in the banquet hall. They rushed from side to side: Athena sent terror upon them. They died from the arrows sent by Odysseus, Telemachus exterminated them with his spear, and Eumaeus and another faithful slave, Philotius, helped him. None of the suitors survived; Odysseus spared only the singer, who amused the suitors against his will. This is how the suitors were punished for all the outrages.

Penelope's doubts. While Odysseus was greeted by the servants who had come running into the hall after the murder of the suitors, the old faithful nanny ran to Penelope’s chambers and announced the return of her husband. Penelope didn’t believe it, she thought that Eurycleia was laughing at her. For a long time she doubted her maid's story; She couldn’t believe that the wanderer was her long-awaited husband. Finally, she went out into the hall, approached Odysseus and began to peer at him; it seemed to Penelope that she recognized her husband, then suddenly doubts crept into her heart again...

Even Telemachus could not stand it. “Is there really a stone in your chest instead of a heart? - he exclaimed. “Your husband has returned, and you stand there and can’t even utter a word!” Is there another wife in the whole world who greets her husband so unfriendly after a long separation?” “I can’t utter a word from excitement,” Penelope answered him. “But if this wanderer is really Odysseus, then there is one secret that he can easily unravel.”

The mystery of the bed. She then called Eurycleia and ordered: “Prepare a bed for us, but not in the bedroom that Odysseus built; move the bed from there into another room.” - “Oh, queen! - Odysseus said here. - Who can move that bed from its place? After all, it was made from a stump that remained from a huge tree that once grew in this place. I cut it down myself and made a bed; its roots grow into the ground. Is it possible that in my absence they cut down the stump and installed a new bed?” Penelope's eyes shone, the last shadow of doubt in them melted: only Odysseus could know the secret of their bedroom. She began to sob and threw herself into the arms of Odysseus; Weeping, he pressed his faithful wife to his heart and covered her with kisses, just as a swimmer who has escaped a storm and been thrown ashore kisses the ground. Hugging each other, Odysseus and Penelope cried happy tears for a long time; This is how the morning would have found them if Athena had not lengthened the night and forbidden the goddess of the dawn, the beautiful Eos, to turn red in the sky. The whole palace fell into sleep; Only Odysseus and Penelope were awake. Odysseus told about his wanderings, faithful Penelope listened to him faithfully and tenderly.

When Telemachus went to bed, Penelope came into the banquet hall with her slaves. The slaves placed an ivory chair trimmed with silver for their mistress near the hearth, and they themselves began to clear the table at which the suitors were feasting. The slave Melanto again began to revile Odysseus, drive him out of the house and threaten him that she would throw a hot brand at him if he did not leave! Odysseus looked at her gloomily and said:

Why are you angry with me? It's true, I'm a beggar! This was my lot, and there was a time when I was rich; but I lost everything by the will of Zeus. Perhaps you too will soon lose your beauty, and your mistress will hate you. Look, Odysseus will return, and you will have to answer for your insolence. If he does not return, then Telemachus is at home, he knows how slaves behave. Nothing can be hidden from him!

I heard the words of Odysseus and Penelope and she angrily said to Melantho:

You're angry at everyone, like a chained dog! Look, I know how you act! You will have to pay with your head for your behavior. Don't you know that I myself called this wanderer here?

Penelope ordered a chair to be placed near the hearth for Odysseus and, when he sat down next to her, she began to ask him about Odysseus. The wanderer told her that he himself had once received Odysseus as a guest on Crete, when he, caught in a storm, landed on the shores of Crete on the way to Troy. Penelope began to cry when she heard that the wanderer had seen Odysseus twenty years ago. Wanting to check whether he was telling the truth, Penelope asked him how Odysseus was dressed. Nothing was easier for the wanderer than to describe his own clothes. He described her in great detail, and then Penelope believed him. The wanderer began to assure her that Odysseus was alive, that he had recently been in the country of the Thesprotians, and from there he went to Dodona * to ask the oracle of Zeus there.

Odysseus will return soon! - said the wanderer, before the year ends, before the new moon comes, Odysseus will return.

Penelope would be glad to believe him, but she could not, because she had been waiting for Odysseus for so many years, and he still did not return. Penelope ordered the slaves to prepare a soft bed for the wanderer. Odysseus thanked her and asked that old Eurycleia first wash his feet.

Eurycleia willingly agreed to wash the wanderer’s feet: his height, his appearance, and even his voice reminded her of Odysseus, whom she herself had once nursed. Eurycleia brought water in a copper basin and bent down to wash the wanderer’s feet. Suddenly the scar on his leg caught her eye. She knew this scar well. A boar once inflicted a deep wound on Odysseus when he was hunting with the sons of Autolycus on the slopes of Parnassus. It was by this scar that Eurycleia recognized Odysseus. She knocked over a basin of water in amazement. Tears clouded her eyes, and in a voice trembling with joy she said:

Odysseus, is it you, my dear child? How did I not recognize you before!

Eurycleia wanted to tell Penelope that her husband had finally returned, but Odysseus hastily covered her mouth with his hand and said quietly:

Yes, I am Odysseus, whom you nursed! But be silent, do not give away my secret, otherwise you will destroy me. Be careful not to tell anyone about my return! I will subject you to severe punishment and will not spare you, although you are my nurse, when I punish the slaves for their misdeeds, if they learn from you that I have returned. Eurycleia swore to secrecy. Rejoicing at the return of Odysseus, she brought more water and washed his feet. Penelope didn't notice what happened; The goddess Athena captured her attention.

When Odysseus sat down again by the fire, Penelope began to complain about her bitter fate and talked about the dream she had recently seen. She saw that an eagle had torn to pieces all her snow-white domestic geese, and all the women of Ithaca mourned them with her. But suddenly the eagle flew back, sat on the roof of the palace and said in a human voice: “Penelope, this is not a dream, but a sign of what will happen. The geese are the suitors, but I am Odysseus, who will return soon.”

Odysseus told Penelope that her dream, like what she herself saw, was so clear that it was not worth interpreting. But Penelope could not even believe such a dream; she did not believe that Odysseus would finally return. She told the wanderer that she decided to test the suitors the next day: take out Odysseus’s bow and invite them to pull it and hit the target; She decided to choose the one who would do this as her husband. The wanderer advised Penelope not to put off this test and added:

Before any of the suitors draws their bow and hits their target, Odysseus returns.

This is how Penelope spoke to the wanderer, not realizing that she was speaking to Odysseus. But it was already too late. Although Penelope was ready to talk all night long with the wanderer, it was still time for her to retire. She got up and went to her chamber with all the slaves, and there the goddess Athena plunged her into a sweet sleep.

Odysseus, having made himself a bed of bull skin and sheepskin, lay down on it, but could not sleep. He kept thinking about how to take revenge on the suitors. The goddess Athena approached his bed; she reassured him, promised her help and said that all his troubles would soon end. Finally, the goddess Athena put Odysseus to sleep. But he did not sleep for long; he was awakened by the loud cry of Penelope, who complained that the gods were not allowing Odysseus to return. Odysseus got up, removed his bed and, going out into the courtyard, began to pray to Zeus to send him a good sign in the first words that he heard that morning. Zeus heeded Odysseus, and a thunderclap rolled across the sky. The first words Odysseus heard were the words of a slave grinding flour in a hand mill. She wanted this to be the last day that the suitors would spend feasting in Odysseus’s house. Odysseus rejoiced. Now he knew that Zeus the Thunderer would help him take revenge on the suitors.