oor of the
hall was floated with blood.

So was the slaughter ended, and the house of Odysseus was hushed in a
stillness more fearful than the din of battle, for the work of the
great vengeance was accomplished.

But Penelope lay on her couch in a sweet slumber which Athene had sent
to soothe her grief, and she heard not the footsteps of Eurykleia as
she hastened joyously into the chamber. "Rise up, dear child, rise up.
Thy heart's desire is come. Odysseus stands once more in his own home,
the suitors are dead, and none are left to vex thee." But Penelope
could not believe for joy and fear, even when Eurykleia told her of
the mark of the boar's bite which Autolykus and his sons had healed.
"Let us go, dear nurse," she said, "and see the bodies of the
chieftains and the man who has slain them." So she went down into the
hall, and sate down opposite to Odysseus, but she spake no word, and
Odysseus also sat silent. And Telemachus said to his mother, "Hast
thou no welcome for my father who has borne so many griefs since Zeus
took him from his home twenty long years ago?"

And Penelope said, "My child, I can not speak, for my heart is as a
stone within me; yet if it be indeed Odysseus, there are secret signs
by which we shall know each other." But when she bade Eurykleia make
ready the couch which lay outside the bridal chamber, Odysseus asked,
hastily, "Who has moved the couch which I wrought with my own hands,
when I made the chamber round the olive tree which stood in the
courtyard? Scarcely could a mortal man move it, for it was heavy with
gold and ivory and silver, and on it I spread a bull's hide gleaming
with a purple dye."

Then Penelope wept for joy, as she sprang into his arms; for now she
knew that it was indeed Odysseus who had come back in the twentieth
year. Long time they wept in each other's arms; but the keen-eyed
Athene kept back the bright and glistening horses of the morning, that
the day might not return too soon.

Then the fair Eurynome anointed Odysseus, and clothed him in a royal
robe; and Athene brought back all his ancient beauty as when he went
forth in his youth to Ilion. So they sat together in the light of the
blazing torches, and Penelope heard from Odysseus the story of his
griefs and wanderings, and she told him of her own sorrows, while he
was far away in Ilion avenging the wrongs and woes of Helen. But for
all his deep joy and his calm peace, Odysseus knew that here was not
the place