e island of Ithaka where he
was King. He summoned a council of the chief men of Ithaka and commended
to their care his wife and his child and all his household, and
thereafter he took his sailors and his fighting men with him and he
sailed away. The years went by and Odysseus did not return. After ten
years the City was taken by the Kings and Princes of Greece and the
thread of war was wound up. But still Odysseus did not return. And now
minstrels came to Ithaka with word of the deaths or the homecomings of
the heroes who had fought in the war against Troy. But no minstrel
brought any word of Odysseus, of his death or of his appearance in any
land known to men. Ten years more went by. And now that infant son
whom he had left behind, Telemachus, had grown up and was a young man of
strength and purpose.

[Illustration]

II

One day, as he sat sad and disconsolate in the house of his father, the
youth Telemachus saw a stranger come to the outer gate. There were many
in the court outside, but no one went to receive the newcomer. Then,
because he would never let a stranger stand at the gate without hurrying
out to welcome him, and because, too, he had hopes that some day such a
one would bring him tidings of his father, Telemachus rose up from where
he was sitting and went down the hall and through the court and to the
gate at which the stranger stood.

'Welcome to the house of Odysseus,' said Telemachus giving him his hand.
The stranger clasped it with a friendly clasp. 'I thank you,
Telemachus,' he said, 'for your welcome, and glad I am to enter the
house of your father, the renowned Odysseus.'

The stranger looked like one who would be a captain amongst soldiers.
His eyes were grey and clear and shone wonderfully. In his hand he
carried a great bronze spear. He and Telemachus went together through
the court and into the hall. And when the stranger left his spear
within the spearstand Telemachus took him to a high chair and put a
footstool under his feet.

He had brought him to a place in the hall where the crowd would not
come. There were many in the court outside and Telemachus would not have
his guest disturbed by questions or clamours. A handmaid brought water
for the washing of his hands, and poured it over them from a golden ewer
into a silver basin. A polished table was left at his side. Then the
house-dame brought wheaten bread and many dainties. Other servants set
down dishes of meat with golden cu