an old man's
staff. Odysseus looked upon the young lords who wooed his wife, and then
he sat down upon the threshold and went no further into the hall.

Telemachus was there. Seeing Eumaeus he called to him and gave the
swineherd bread and meat, and said, 'Take these, and give them to the
stranger at the doorway, and tell him that he may go amongst the company
and crave an alms from each.'

Odysseus ate whilst the minstrel was finishing his song. When it was
finished he rose up, and went into the hall, craving an alms from each
of the wooers.

Seeing him, Antinous, the most insolent of the wooers, cried out, 'O
notorious swineherd, why didst thou bring this fellow here? Have we not
enough vagabonds? Is it nothing to thee that worthless fellows come here
and devour thy master's substance?'

Hearing such a speech from Antinous, Telemachus had to say, 'Antinous, I
see that thou hast good care for me and mine. I marvel that thou hast
such good care. But wouldst thou have me drive a stranger from the door?
The gods forbid that I should do such a thing. Nay, Antinous. Give the
stranger something for the sake of the house.'

'If all the company gives him as much as I, he will have something to
keep him from beggary for a three months' space,' said Antinous, meaning
by that that he would work some hurt upon the beggar.

Odysseus came before him. 'They say that thou art the noblest of all the
wooers,' he said, 'and for that reason thou shouldst give me a better
thing than any of the others have given me. Look upon me. I too had a
house of mine own, and was accounted wealthy amongst men, and I had
servants to wait upon me. And many a time would I make welcome the
wanderer and give him something from my store.'

'Stand far away from my table, thou wretched fellow,' said Antinous.

Then said Odysseus, 'Thou hast beauty, lord Antinous, but thou hast not
wisdom. Out of thine own house thou wouldst not give a grain of salt to
a suppliant. And even whilst thou dost sit at another man's table thou
dost not find it in thy heart to give something out of the plenty that
is before thee.'

So Odysseus spoke and Antinous became terribly angered. He caught up a
footstool, and with it he struck Odysseus in the back, at the base of
the right shoulder. Such a blow would have knocked another man over, but
Odysseus stood steadfast under it. He gave one look at Antinous, and
then without a word he went over and sat down again upon the thr