A Sneeze and a Summons

65She ended. Suddenly Telemachus
Sneezed loudly, so that all the palace rang;
And, laughing as she heard, Penelope
Bespoke Eumaeus thus with winged words: —

66“Go, call the stranger. Do you not perceive
My son has sneezed as to confirm my words.
Not unfulfilled will now remain the doom
That waits the suitors; none will now escape
Death and the Fates. This further let me say,
And you remember it; if what he tells
Be true, I will bestow on him a change
Of fair attire, a tunic and a cloak.”

67She spoke, the swineherd went, and, drawing near
Odysseus, said to him in winged words: —

68“Stranger and father, sage Penelope,
The mother of the prince, has sent for you.
Though sorrowing, she is minded to inquire
What of her husband you can haply say;
And should she find that all your words are true,
She will bestow a tunic and a cloak,
Garments which much you need. For your food,
What will appease your hunger you will find
Among the people; ask, and each will give.”

69Odysseus, much-enduring man, replied:
“Eumaeus, faithfully will I declare
All that I know to sage Penelope,
The daughter of Icarius. Well I knew
Her husband, and with like calamities
We both have suffered. But I greatly dread
This reckless suitor-crew, whose riotous acts
And violence reach to the iron heavens.
Even now, when that man dealt me, as I passed,
A painful blow, though I had done no harm,
None interposed, not even Telemachus,
In my defence. Now, therefore, ask, I pray,
Penelope that she will deign to wait
Till sunset in her rooms, though strong her wish
To hear my history. Of her husband then,
And his return, she may inquire, while I
Sit by the blazing hearth; for scant have been
My garments, as you know, since the day
When first I came, a suppliant, to your door.”