dged
Odysseus, who was lying next to me, with my elbow, and said to him:
'Son of Laertes, the cold is killing me. I came in my folly without a
cloak, and I can never hold out until dawn in this cruel frost.' And
he, ever ready of wit as he was, instantly contrived means to relieve
me. Whispering to me to keep counsel he rose on his elbow, and called
to the others, saying: 'Comrades, I have been warned in a dream that
our numbers are too weak for the task which has been laid upon us.
Will not one of you run down to the camp, and ask Agamemnon to send us
further succour?'

"Thereupon one of our men arose, and flinging off his cloak ran off to
carry the message to Agamemnon. And I lay wrapped in the garment, warm
and safe, until the dawn. Ah! those were brave days; what changes have
I seen since then!"

"I read thy meaning," said Eumaeus; "and as a reward for thy good story
thou shalt sleep in comfort to-night. But to-morrow thou must make
shift to wear thine own rags again, for I am but ill furnished with
changes of raiment. When Telemachus returns he will supply all thy
wants, and send thee whithersoever thou art minded to go."

So saying he drew a truckle-bed close to the fire, and heaped it with
the skins of sheep and goats. There Odysseus lay down to rest, and
Eumaeus threw over him a stout mantle of his own. All the other
herdsmen slept in the hut; but Eumaeus, ever watchful for his master's
property, went out, armed to the teeth, to pass the night among the
swine, under the shelter of a hollow rock, which kept off the cold
north wind. And Odysseus was glad when he saw that good servant so
faithful to his trust.

The Return of Telemachus

I

While these important events were happening in Ithaca, Telemachus was
living as an honoured guest in the house of Menelaus. One night, while
he lay between sleeping and waking, full of anxious thought, Athene
appeared to him in her own person, and addressed him thus: "Thou
lingerest too long here, Telemachus. It is time for thee to return and
keep an eye on thy goods, lest thou be stripped of all in thy absence.
Thy mother's kinsmen are urgent with her to wed Eurymachus, the
wealthiest of the wooers; and, if she yield, it may be that she will
take of thy heritage to increase the house of the man who wins her.
Therefore make haste and get thee home, that thou mayest be at hand to
defend thy rights. Know also that the wooers are lying in wait for
thee in the strait