across her face. Two slave girls stood with her.
She said,
“Now listen, lords. You keep on coming
to this house every day, to eat and drink,
wasting the wealth of someone who has been
away too long. Your motives are no secret.
You want to marry me. I am the prize.
So I will set a contest. This great bow70
belonged to godlike King Odysseus.
If anyone can grasp it in his hands
and string it easily, and shoot through all
twelve axes, I will marry him, and leave
this beautiful rich house, so full of life,
my lovely bridal home. I think I will
remember it forever, even in
my dreams.”
She told Eumaeus he should set
the bow and pale-gray iron axes up
before the suitors, and in tears the swineherd80
took them, and did as she had asked. The cowherd
wept also when he saw his master’s bow.
Antinous began to scold and taunt them.
He said, “You idiots! You tactless peasants!
So thoughtless, so undisciplined! You fools,
your selfish crying is upsetting her!
Poor lady, she is sad enough already
at losing her beloved husband. Sit
and eat in silence, or go do your wailing
outside, and leave us suitors here to try90
the deadly contest of the bow. I think
it will be difficult; not one of us
can match Odysseus. I saw him once
in childhood, and I still remember him.”
He hoped he would be first to string the bow
and shoot through all the axes. But he would
be first to taste an arrow from the hands
of great Odysseus, whom he had mocked,
urging the others on to do the same.
Then Prince Telemachus addressed them all.100
“Zeus must have made me stupid! My dear mother,
despite her usual common sense, has said
that she will marry someone else and leave
this house. But I am laughing, and my heart
feels foolish gladness. Well, come on, you suitors.
You want this prize—a woman unlike any
in holy Pylos, Argos or Mycenae,
or here in Ithaca or on the mainland.
No woman in Achaea is like her.
There is no need for me to praise my mother.110
You know her worth. So do not make excuses,
do not put off the contest of the bow.
We want to watch. And I will try myself.
If I succeed in stringing it and shooting
all through, I will no longer mind if Mother
goes off with someone else, and leaves me here.
Success would prove me man enough to carry
my father’s arms.”
He stood up straight and tall,
tossed off his purple cloak, unstrapped his sword,
and dug a trench to set the axes up,120
all in a line, and trod the earth down flat.
They were amazed to see him work so neatly,
though he had never seen it done before.
He stood astride the threshold and began
to try the bow. Three times his muscles trembled,
straining to draw it back; three times he failed
to string the bow and shoot all through the axes.
He would have tried a fourth time; he was keen
to keep on pulling. But Odysseus
shook his head, stopping him. Telemachus130
said,
“Ugh! It seems that I will always be
too weak and useless. Or perhaps I am
too young and inexperienced at fighting
in self-defense when someone starts a quarrel.
You all are stronger than I am. You try,
and we can end the contest.”
With these words,
he set the bow down on the floor, propped up
against the polished, jointed double door,
and tucked the arrow up against the handle.
He sat back down where he had sat before.140
Antinous called out, “Now, friends, get up,
from left to right, beginning with the man
next to the wine-slave!”
They agreed. The first
was Leodes, their holy man, who always
sat in the farthest corner, by the wine-bowl.
He was the only one who disapproved
of all their bullying. He grasped the bow
and stood astride the threshold, and he tried
to string it, but he failed. His hands were soft,
untrained by labor, and he grew worn out150
trying to pull it back. He told the suitors,
“My friends, I cannot do it. Someone else
should have a turn. This bow will take away
courage, life-force, and energy from many
noble young men; but better we should die,
than live and lose the goal for which we gather
in this house every day. Each man still hopes
for marriage with Odysseus’ wife,
Penelope. But if one tries and fails
to string the bow, let him go use his wealth160
to court some other fine, well-dressed Greek lady.
And after that, Penelope will marry
whichever man can bring most gifts for her—
the man whom fate has chosen.”
With these words,
he set the bow back down, and leaned it up
against the polished, jointed double door,
tucking the pointed arrow by the handle.
Antinous responded with a jeer.
“My goodness, Leodes! What scary words!
All your tough talk has made me really angry.170
You cannot string the bow, so you are claiming
that it will take the life from proper men.
You surely were not born for archery.
The rest of us are actual warriors;
we will soon string this bow.”
He told the goatherd,
“Melanthius, come on now, light a fire
and pull a chair beside it, with a fleece,
and bring out from the pantry a big hunk
of fat, so we young men can warm the bow,
grease it, and try it, and so end this contest.”180
Melanthius obeyed at once; he lit
a blazing fire, and pulled a chair beside it,
spreading a fleece on top, and brought the wheel
of fat. The young men warmed the bow, but still
they could not string it. They were far too weak.
Antinous and Eurymachus, the leaders,
strongest and most impressive of the suitors,
had still not had their turn.
Meanwhile the swineherd
and cowherd had both gone outside the house.
Odysseus himself came after them,190
and when they were outside the gates, beyond
the courtyard, in a friendly voice he said,
“Cowherd and swineherd, I am hesitating
whether to speak out openly; my impulse
is to be frank. What if some god should guide
Odysseus, and suddenly, as if
from nowhere, he was here—how would you act?
Would you be with the suitors, or with him?
How are your hearts inclined?”
The cowherd said,
“O Father Zeus, please make this wish come true,200
that he may come! May spirits guide him home!
Then you would see how well-prepared I am
to fight for him!” Eumaeus prayed in turn
that all the gods would bring Odysseus
back home. The man who thought of everything now knew
their minds, and said to them,
“I am here now.
I suffered terribly for twenty years,
and now I have come back to my own land.
I see that you two are the only slaves
who welcome my arrival. I have not210
heard any others praying I would come
back to my home. I promise, if some god
brings down the noble suitors by my hands,
I will give each of you a wife and wealth,
and well-constructed houses, near my own.
You two will be Telemachus’ brothers.
Now let me show you clearer proof, so you
can know me well and trust me. See my scar,
made by the boar’s white tusk, when I had gone
to hunt on Mount Parnassus with my cousins.”220
So saying, he pulled back his rags and showed
the great big scar. They stared and studied it,
then both burst into tears. They threw their arms
around Odysseus, and kissed his face
and hugged him, overjoyed at seeing him.
Odysseus embraced them back and kissed them.
They would have wept till sunset, but he stopped them,
and said,