et fountain of melody, which shall be shed like the
dew from heaven on thy fame, and keep it green for ever. Therefore
stay thy hand, and harm me not. Telemachus, thy son, knows that it was
not of mine own will, nor for greed of gain, that I sang among the
wooers, but they compelled me by force, being so many, and all
stronger than I."

Thus appealed to, Telemachus readily confirmed what the minstrel had
said, which was indeed the literal truth. Then he thought of the
trusty Medon, who had been kind to him when a child, and remained
loyal to the last to him and Penelope. "I trust he has not been slain
among the wooers," he said. "Medon, if thou art still alive, come
forth and fear nothing."

When he heard that, Medon, who had been huddled in a heap behind a
chair, covered with a freshly-flayed ox-hide, flung off his covering,
and came running to Telemachus. The poor man was still half-mad with
terror. "Here I am!" he gasped, with staring eyes, "speak to thy
father, that he slay me not in his rage and his fury,"

Odysseus smiled grimly at the poor serving-man, and bade him be of
good cheer. "Live," he said, "thou and the minstrel, that ye may know,
and tell it also to others, how much better are good deeds than evil.
Now go ye forth and wait in the courtyard until I have finished what
remains to be done." So forth they went, and sat down by the altar of
Zeus, glancing fearfully about them, as if expecting every moment to
be their last.

As soon as they were gone Odysseus walked slowly up and down the hall
to see if any of the wooers still survived. But there was no sound or
motion, save the tread of his own feet, to break the awful stillness
in that chamber of death. There they lay, stark and silent, heap upon
heap, like a great draught of fishes which have been hauled to shore
in a drag-net, and have gasped out their lives on the beach. Having
assured himself that he had not done the work negligently, he bade
Telemachus summon the nurse, Eurycleia. Telemachus obeyed, and going
to the door of the women's apartments, he smote upon it, and called
aloud to the nurse. A moment after the bolts were drawn back, and
Eurycleia entered the hall. When she saw Odysseus standing among the
heaps of slain wooers, she opened her mouth to utter a cry of triumph,
but Odysseus checked her, saying: "Hold thy peace, dame, and give not
voice to thy joy: it is an impious thing to exult over the dead. They
are the victims of heaven's righ