A Bed by the Fire

31And thus, Eumaeus, you did make reply:
“O aged man! we see no cause of blame
In your recital, and of all your words
Not one is unbecoming or inapt.
You shall not lack for garments, nor aught else
That any suppliant in his poverty
Might hope for at our hands tonight. With morn
Gird you your tatters on again; for here
We have not many cloaks, nor many a change
Of raiment —only one for each of us.
But when the son of our Odysseus comes
Again, he will provide you with a cloak
And tunic, and will send you where you will.”

32He spoke and rose, and made his guest a bed
Close to the hearth, and threw on it the skins
Of sheep and goats, and there Odysseus lay,
Over whom the swineherd spread a thick large cloak,
Which he had often worn for a defence
When a wild winter storm was in the air.

33Thus slept Odysseus with the young men near.
A couch within, and distant from his charge,
Pleased not the swineherd, who first armed himself,
And then went forth. Odysseus gladly saw
That while he was in distant lands his goods
Were watched so faithfully. Eumaeus hung
About his sturdy shoulders a sharp sword,
And wrapped a thick cloak round him, tempest-proof,
And took the hide of a huge pampered goat,
And a well-pointed javelin for defence
Both against dogs and men. So went he forth
To take his rest where lay the white-toothed swine,
Herded and slumbering underneath a rock,
Whose hollow fenced them from the keen north-wind.