Odysseus’s Request

57He spoke; the herald laid the flesh before
Demodocus the hero, who received
The gift well pleased. Then all the guests put forth
Their hands and shared the viands on the board;
And when their thirst and hunger were allayed,
Thus to the minstrel sage Odysseus spoke: —

58“Demodocus, above all other men
I give you praise, for either has the Muse,
Zeus’ daughter, or Apollo, visited
And taught you. Truly have you sung the fate
Of the Achaian warriors —what they did
And suffered —all their labors as if you
Had been among them, or had heard the tale
From an eyewitness. Now, I pray, proceed,
And sing the invention of the wooden horse
Made by Epeius with Athena’s aid,
And by the chief Odysseus artfully
Conveyed into the Trojan citadel,
With armed warriors in its womb to lay
The city waste. And I, if you relate
The story rightly, will at once declare
To all that largely has some bounteous god
Bestowed on you the holy gift of song.”