ly. His knee struck against the bath, and
the vessel of water was overturned. The nurse touched the chin of
Odysseus and she said, 'Thou art Odysseus.'

She looked to where Penelope was sitting, so that she might make a sign
to her. But Penelope had her eyes turned away. Odysseus put his hand on
Eurycleia's mouth, and with the other hand he drew her to him.

'Woman,' he whispered. 'Say nothing. Be silent, lest mine enemies learn
what thou knowest now.'

'Silent I'll be,' said the nurse Eurycleia. 'Thou knowest me. Firm and
unyielding I am, and by no sign will I let anyone know that thou hast
come under this roof.'

[Illustration.]

So saying she went out of the hall to fetch water in the place of that
which had been spilt. She came back and finished bathing his feet. Then
Odysseus arranged the rags around his leg to hide the scar, and he drew
the bench closer to the fire.

Penelope turned to him again, 'Wise thou art, my guest,' she said, 'and
it may be that thou art just such a man as can interpret a dream that
comes to me constantly. I have twenty geese in the yard outside. In my
dream I see them, and then a great eagle flies down from the mountains,
and breaks their necks and kills them all, and lays them in a heap in
this hall. I weep and lament for my geese, but then the eagle comes
back, and perching on a beam of the roof speaks to me in the voice of a
man. "Take heart, O wife of Odysseus," the eagle says, "this is no dream
but a true vision. For the geese that thou hast seen are thy wooers, and
I, that appeared as an eagle, am thy husband who will swiftly bring
death to the wooers." Then the dream goes, and I waken and look out on
the daylight and see my geese in the courtyard pecking at the wheat in
the trough. Canst thou interpret this dream?'

'Lady,' said Odysseus, 'the dream interprets itself. All will come about
as thou hast dreamed.'

'Ah,' said Penelope, 'but it cannot now, for the day of my woe is at
hand. I am being forced by my parents to choose a husband from the
wooers, and depart from the house of Odysseus.'

'And how wilt thou choose from amongst them?' said Odysseus.

'In this way will I make choice,' said Penelope. 'My husband's great bow
is still in the house. The one who can bend that bow, and shoot an arrow
through the holes in the backs of twelve axes set one behind the
other--him will I choose for my husband.'

Said Odysseus, 'Thy device is good, Penelope, and some god hath
ins