t he is far away who
loved me well and gave me all my substance. I would that the whole
kindred of Helen had been uprooted from the earth, for it was for her
sake that my master went to fight with the Trojans at Ilion."

Then Eumaius placed meat and wine before him. "It is but a homely
meal," he said, "and a poor draught, but the chiefs who throng about
my master's wife eat all the fat of the land. A brave life they have
of it, for rich were the treasures which my master left in his house
when he went to take vengeance for the wrongs of Helen." "Tell me thy
master's name, friend," said the stranger. "If he was indeed so rich
and great, I may perhaps be able to tell you something about him, for
I have been a wanderer in many lands." "Why, what would be the use?"
answered the swineherd. "Many a vagabond comes here with trumped-up
tales to my master's wife, who listens to them greedily, hoping
against hope. No, he must long ago have died; but we love Odysseus
still, and we call him our friend, though he is very far away." "Nay,
but thou art wrong this time," said the stranger, "for I do know
Odysseus, and I swear to thee that the sun shall not finish his
journey through the heavens before thy lord returns." But Eumaius
shook his head. "I have nothing to give you for your news. Sure I am
that Odysseus will not come back. Say no more about him, for my heart
is pained when any make me call to mind the friend whom I have lost.
But what is your name, friend, and whence do you come?"

Then Odysseus was afraid to reveal himself, so he told him a long
story how he had come from Crete, and been made a slave in Egypt, how
after many years Phoinix had led him to the purple land, how Pheidon,
the chief of the Thesprotians, had showed him the treasures of
Odysseus, and how at last he had fallen into the hands of robbers, who
had clothed him in beggarly rags and left him on the shore of Ithaka.
But still Eumaius would not believe. "I can not trust your tale, my
friend, when you tell me that Odysseus has sojourned in the
Thesprotian land. I have had enough of such news since an AEolian came
and told me that he had seen him in Crete with Idomeneus, mending the
ships which had been hurt by a storm, and that he would come again to
his home before that summer was ended. Many a year has passed since,
and if I welcome you still, it is not for your false tidings about my
master." "Well," said Odysseus, "I will make a covenant with you. If
he