would have struck
Odysseus if Telemachus had not come amongst the wooers, saying, 'That
man must not be struck again in this hall. Sirs, if you have finished
feasting, and if the time has come for you, go to your own homes, go in
peace I pray you.'

All were astonished that Telemachus should speak so boldly. No one
answered him back, for one said to the other, 'What he has said is
proper. We have nothing to say against it. To misuse a stranger in the
house of Odysseus is a shame. Now let us pour out a libation of wine to
the gods, and then let each man go to his home.'

The wine was poured out and the wooers departed. Then Penelope and her
handmaidens went to her own chamber and Telemachus was left with his
father, Odysseus.

XII

To Telemachus Odysseus said, 'My son, we must now get the weapons out of
the hall. Take them down from the walls.' Telemachus and his father took
down the helmets and shields and sharp-pointed spears. Then said
Odysseus as they carried them out, 'To-morrow, when the wooers miss the
weapons and say, "Why have they been taken?" answer them, saying, "The
smoke of the fire dulled them, and they no longer looked the weapons
that my father left behind him when he went to the wars of Troy.
Besides, I am fearful lest some day the company in the hall come to a
quarrel, one with the other, and snatch the weapons in anger. Strife has
come here already. And iron draws iron, men say."'

Telemachus carried the armour and weapons out of the hall and hid them
in the women's apartment. Then when the hall was cleared he went to his
own chamber.

It was then that Penelope came back to the hall to speak to the
stranger. One of her handmaidens, Melantho by name, was there, and she
was speaking angrily to him. Now this Melantho was proud and hard of
heart because Antinous often conversed with her. As Penelope came near
she was saying:

'Stranger, art thou still here, prying things out and spying on the
servants? Be thankful for the supper thou hast gotten and betake thyself
out of this.'

Odysseus, looking fiercely at her, said, 'Why shouldst thou speak to me
in such a way? If I go in ragged clothes and beg through the land it is
because of my necessity. Once I had a house with servants and with much
substance, and the stranger who came there was not abused.'

The lady Penelope called to the handmaiden and said, 'Thou, Melantho,
didst hear it from mine own lips that I was minded to speak to thi