was already on his way to Ithaca.

The swineherd listened eagerly to it all, but when Ulysses had finished he
said, "Poor friend, my heart aches to hear of all your sufferings. But
there is one thing you should not have said, one thing I can never
believe, and that is that Ulysses will return. And why need you lie to
please me? I can see for myself that you are old and unhappy, a wanderer
whom the Gods have sent to me. It is not for such a tale I will show you
the kindness that you need, but because I pity you myself and reverence
the law of Zeus."

"If I lie," Ulysses answered, "you may have me thrown from the cliff as a
warning to other cheats. I swear it, and call the Gods to witness."

But the true-hearted swineherd only said, "I should get a good name by
that, my friend, if I took you into nay house and had you for my guest,
and then murdered you brutally! Do you think I could pray to Zeus after
that without a fear? But now it is supper-time, and my men will be coming
home." While they spoke, the herdsmen came up with the swine, and the sows
were driven into the pens, grunting and squealing noisily as they settled
in for the night. Then Eumaeus called out, "Bring in the fattest boar, and
let us make a sacrifice in honor of our guest, and get some reward
ourselves for all the trouble we have spent upon the drove,--trouble lost,
since strangers take the fruit of it all."

So they brought in a big fat white-tusked boar, while Eumaeus split the
wood for the fire. And he did not forget the Immortals, for he had a pious
heart: he made the due offerings first and prayed for his master's return,
and then he stood up at the board to carve, and gave each man his share
and a special slice for his guest from the whole length of the chine.
Ulysses took it and thanked him with all his heart:--

"May Father Zeus be your friend, Eumaeus, and give you what I would give
you for your kindness to a poor old man like me."

But the swineherd said, "Take it, my good friend, take it and enjoy it.
Zeus will give or withhold as it may please him, for he can do all
things."

So they sat down to the feast, and after they had had their fill the
swineherd's servant cleared everything away, and then they made ready for
sleep. The evening closed in black and stormy, and a west wind sprang up
bringing the rain with it, and blew hard all the night; so Eumaeus made up
a bed of fleeces for Ulysses by the fire and gave him a great thick cloak
a