"

In the midst of his sorrow, Eumaeus forgot not his duties as host.
Going out he took two young swine, slaughtered and dressed them, and
set the flesh, all smoking on the spits, before Odysseus. Then he
mixed wine in a bowl of ivy wood, and sitting down opposite to his
guest bade him eat and drink.

"'Tis but poor fare which I have to offer you," he said. "The best of
the herd ever goes to the young lords who are wooing my mistress.
Their wantonness and riot calls aloud to Heaven for vengeance. They
are worse than the wildest band of robbers that ever lived by open
pillage and violence. Such waste of good meat and wine was never seen
before. For a wealthy man was Odysseus, and his flocks and herds still
range over all the hills of Ithaca. And from every flock the fattest
and the choicest is driven off day by day to feed their dainty
mouths."

Odysseus fell to with keen appetite, for he had eaten nothing since he
left Phaeacia. And when he had satisfied his hunger he pledged Eumaeus
in a full cup, and led him on to discourse on his favourite theme--the
virtues and the sorrows of his lord. "Tell me more," he said, "of thy
master. Who knows but that I may have met him in my travels, for I
have wandered in many lands."

"Old man," answered Eumaeus, "I see thy bent. Thou wouldst forge some
glozing tale to beguile the ears of that poor stricken lady, Penelope.
Many a beggar has come to her doors crammed full of lies to amuse her
widowed heart; and she listens, and doubts, and weeps. And thou too,
methinks, hast a like fertile fancy; for hunger and want are rare
inventors. But save thy wits for a better purpose; thou canst not
bring him back to life, or clothe with warm flesh his bones, long
since picked clean by carrion birds or ravenous fish. He is lost for
ever, and sorrow is the portion of us who remain, but especially of
me, for he was dearer to me than father and mother, dearer than my
native land."

"Friend," said Odysseus, "thou hast misjudged me sorely, in thinking
me one of those greedy mendicants who tell lies for the sake of meat
and drink. Believe me or not, I will say what is in my heart, and when
my words are proved true by the event I will claim my reward. Odysseus
is near at hand, and ere many days have passed he shall be seen in
Ithaca, and take vengeance on those who oppress his wife and son. I
swear it by this table at which I have eaten, and by the hearth of
Odysseus, and by Zeus, the god of hospi