cooked, he brought portions to Odysseus sprinkled with barley meal, and
he brought him, too, wine in a deep bowl of ivy wood. And when Odysseus
had eaten and drunken, Eumaeus the swineherd said to him:

'Old man, no wanderer ever comes to this land but that our lady Penelope
sends for him, and gives him entertainment, hoping that he will have
something to tell her of her lord, Odysseus. They all do as thou wouldst
do if thou earnest to her--tell her a tale of having seen or of having
heard of her lord, to win her ear. But as for Odysseus, no matter what
wanderers or vagrants say, he will never return--dogs, or wild birds, or
the fishes of the deep have devoured his body ere this. Never again
shall I find so good a lord, nor would I find one so kind even if I were
back in my own land, and saw the faces of my father and my mother. But
not so much for them do I mourn as for the loss of my master.'

Said Odysseus, 'Thou sayst that thy master will never return, but I
notice that thou art slow to believe thine own words. Now I tell thee
that Odysseus will return and in this same year. And as sure as the old
moon wanes and the young moon is born, he will take vengeance on those
whom you have spoken of--those who eat his substance and dishonour his
wife and son. I say that, and I swear it with an oath.'

[Illustration]

'I do not heed thine oath,' said Eumaeus the swineherd. 'I do not listen
to vagrant's tales about my master since a stranger came here and
cheated us with a story. He told us that he had seen Odysseus in the
land of the Cretans, in the house of the hero Idomeneus, mending his
ships that had been broken by the storm, and that he would be here by
summer or by harvest time, bringing with him much wealth.'

As they were speaking the younger swineherds came back from the woods,
bringing the drove of swine into the courtyard. There was a mighty din
whilst the swine were being put into their pens. Supper time came on,
and Eumaeus and Odysseus and the younger swineherds sat down to a meal.
Eumaeus carved the swineflesh, giving the best portion to Odysseus whom
he treated as the guest of honour. And Odysseus said, 'Eumaeus, surely
thou art counselled by Zeus, seeing thou dost give the best of the meat
even to such a one as I.'

And Eumaeus, thinking Odysseus was praising him for treating a stranger
kindly, said, 'Eat, stranger, and make merry with such fare as is here.'

The night came on cold with rain. Then Ody