returns this year, you shall clothe me in sound garments and send
me home to Doulichion, if he does not, bid thy men hurl me from the
cliffs, that beggars may learn not to tell lies." "Nay, how can I do
that," said Eumaius, "when you have eaten bread in my house? Would
Zeus ever hear my prayer again? Tell me no more false tales, and let
us talk together as friends."

Meanwhile Telemachus was far away in Sparta, whither he had gone to
seek his father, Odysseus, if haply he might find him; and one night
as he lay sleepless on his couch, Athene stood before him and warned
him to hasten home. "The suitors are eating up thy substance, and they
lie in wait that they may slay thee before the ship reaches Ithaka;
but the gods who guard thee will deliver thee from them, and when thou
comest to the land, go straightway to the house of Eumaius."

Then in the morning Telemachus bade farewell to Menelaus, and the
fair-haired Helen placed in his hands a beautiful robe which her own
fingers had wrought. "Take it," she said, "as a memorial of Helen, and
give it to thy bride when thy marriage day has come." So they set off
from Sparta, and came to Pylos, and there, as Telemachus offered
sacrifice, the wise seer Theoklymenus stood by his side, and asked him
of his name and race, and when he knew that he was the son of Odysseus
he besought Telemachus to take him with him to the ship, for he had
slain a man in Argos and he was flying from the avenger of blood. So
Theoklymenus, the seer, came with Telemachus to Ithaka.

Then again Odysseus made trial of the friendship of Eumaius, and when
the meal was over, he said, "To-morrow, early in the morning, I must
go to the house of Odysseus. Therefore, let some one guide me thither.
It may be that Penelope will listen to my tidings, and that the
suitors will give alms to the old man. For I can serve well, my
friends, and none can light a fire and heap on wood, or hand a
winecup, more deftly than myself." But Eumaius was angry, and said
sharply, "Why not tarry here? You annoy neither me nor my friends, and
when Odysseus comes home, be sure he will give you coat and cloak and
all else that you may need." And the beggar said, "God reward thee,
good friend, for succoring the stranger," and he asked him if the
father and mother of Odysseus were yet alive. Then Eumaius told him
how his mother had pined away and died after Odysseus went to Ilion,
and how Laertes lingered on in a wretched and squalid ol