142 MYTHOLOGY AND RELIGIOUS RITES. 
covered himself and recounted his own adventures and disasters. Touched 
by the hardships of his voyage, Alcinoos resolved to have him brought to 
Ithaca by one of his own vessels. Odysseus was sleeping when the vessel 
reached his home in the dead of night. His companions carried him on 
shore, and left the island after having placed him gently on the beach. 
When he awoke he knew not where he was. Twenty years of absence had 
effaced the recollection of the scenery around him. Athene, in the shape 
of a shepherd, told him he was in Ithaca, but not until she had assumed 
her own divine form would he believe her word, so firmly had the idea 
become rooted in his mind that he would never reach his island again. 
Athene bade him assume the garb of a beggar, and thus approach his 
palace, and to address himself under this disguise to Humeos, an old, faith- 
ful servant. He was kindly received by the good old man, whom he told 
that Odysseus was still among the living, but had difficulty to make him 
credit that he knew he was not far off. On the third day Telemachos made 
his appearance returning from his voyage in search of his father, and to him 
Odysseus discovered himself. Eumeeos was then dispatched to inform 
Penelope of her husband’s approach. 
Penelope had long been hard pressed by numerous suitors, who had spread 
the report that Odysseus had perished at Troy. But the virtuous woman was 
true to her lord, and deferred an answer to their suits by promising to 
bestow her hand upon one among them when she should have finished the 
shroud of Laertes which she was weaving. She wove at it every day, but 
undid her day’s work during the night, and thus delayed the ominous 
decision. Meanwhile the haughty wooers established themselves in her 
palace, banqueted in her halls, and squandered the wealth of her house. 
When Eumeos brought her the message she bade him bring to her the 
beggar who had sent it. When he entered the hall he found the wooers at 
a feast, and they taunted the ragged man and made him wrestle with the 
privileged beggar of the house for their amusement. When brought into 
the presence of Penelope he told her, who did not recognise him, that her 
lord lived and would return to his home on the following day. Rejoiced at 
the news, she arranged a feast for that day, and told her suitors that she 
would upon that occasion give her decision in favor of one. After the feast 
she ordered the bow of Odysseus to be brought into the hall, and promised 
her hand to him who could shoot an arrow from that bow through twelve 
holes at the top of so many stakes that were placed in a straight line at 
short distances behind each other. When all the lovers had tried in vain to 
bend the bow, the disguised beggar asked permission to try his skill, and at 
the command of Penelope and Telemachos the bow was reluctantly handed 
to the despised old man. He raised it slowly and with apparent difficulty, 
but suddenly drew the string with perfect ease and sent the arrow from it 
through all the stakes. Before the proud suitors could recover from their 
astonishment he had thrown off his disguise and sent another arrow through 
the breast of the boldest of the lovers, and then, with the assistance of 
Telemachos and Eumeos, he killed the rest. Penelope now recognised her 
lord by his uncommon prowess and welcomed him home. 
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