sseus, to test the kindliness
of the swineherd, said, 'O that I were young and could endure this
bitter night! O that I were better off! Then would one of you swineherds
give me a wrap to cover myself from the wind and rain! But now, verily,
I am an outcast because of my sorry raiment.'

Then Eumaeus sprang up and made a bed for Odysseus near the fire.
Odysseus lay down, and the swineherd covered him with a mantle he kept
for a covering when great storms should arise. Then, that he might
better guard the swine, Eumaeus, wrapping himself up in a cloak, and
taking with him a sword and javelin, to drive off wild beasts should
they come near, went to lie nearer to the pens.

When morning came, Odysseus said, 'I am going to the town to beg, so
that I need take nothing more from thee. Send someone with me to be a
guide. I would go to the house of Odysseus, and see if I can earn a
little from the wooers who are there. Right well could I serve them if
they would take me on. There could be no better serving-man than I, when
it comes to splitting faggots, and kindling a fire and carving meat.'

'Nay, nay,' said Eumaeus, 'do not go there, stranger. None here are at a
loss by thy presence. Stay until the son of Odysseus, Telemachus,
returns, and he will do something for thee. Go not near the wooers. It
is not such a one as thee that they would have to serve them. Stay this
day with us.'

Odysseus did not go to the town but stayed all day with Eumaeus. And at
night, when he and Eumaeus and the younger swineherds were seated at the
fire, Odysseus said, 'Thou, too, Eumaeus, hast wandered far and hast had
many sorrows. Tell us how thou earnest to be a slave and a swineherd,'

THE STORY OF EUMAEUS THE SWINEHERD

'There is,' said Eumaeus, 'a certain island over against Ortygia. That
island has two cities, and my father was king over them both.'

'There came to the city where my father dwelt, a ship with merchants
from the land of the Phoenicians. I was a child then, and there was in my
father's house a Phoenician slave-woman who nursed me. Once, when she was
washing clothes, one of the sailors from the Phoenician ship spoke to her
and asked her would she like to go back with them to their own land.'

'She spoke to that sailor and told him her story. "I am from Sidon in
the Phoenician land," she said, "and my father was named Artybas, and was
famous for his riches. Sea robbers caught me one day as I was crossing
the fields