om thy fair masters? Is it their pleasure that
my maidens should leave their tasks and spread the board for them? Out
on your feasting and your wooing! May this be the last morsel that ye
ever taste! Ungrateful men, have ye forgotten all the good deeds that
were wrought here by the hands of Odysseus, and all the kindness that
ye received from him? Yes, all is forgotten; ye have no thought in
your hearts but to grow fat at his cost, and devour his living."

"Alas! lady," answered Medon, "would that this were the worst! But I
am the bearer of heavier news than this. Telemachus has sailed to
Pylos, to inquire concerning his father, and the suitors have plotted
to slay him on his way home." Having delivered his message, Medon left
the chamber, and the door was shut.

Long Penelope sat without a word, struck dumb by this cruel blow.
Then, as if seized by a sudden thought, she rose from her seat, and
took two paces towards the door. But her strength failing her she
tottered backward, and sank down upon the ground, leaning against the
wall. Her handmaids gathered round her, and would have lifted her up,
but she waved them off and at last gave utterance to her feelings in
wailing and broken tones:

"Woeful beyond the lot of all women on earth is my portion! First, I
lost my lion-hearted lord, rich in every excellent gift, a hero among
heroes; and now the powers of the air[1] have carried off my child, my
well-beloved, without one word of farewell. Hearts of stone, why did
ye not tell me of his going? Had I known his purpose I would have
prevailed on him to stay, or he must have left me dead in these halls.
Go, one of you, and call Dolius, the keeper of my garden and orchard,
and send him to tell all to Laertes, if haply he may devise some way
to turn the hearts of the people, and save his race from being utterly
cut off."

[Footnote 1: Demons, to whom sudden disappearance was attributed.]

"Sweet lady," answered Eurycleia, who was sitting among the women, "I
will tell thee all the truth, and then thou shalt slay me, if it be
thy will. I was privy to this journey, and Telemachus made me swear a
solemn oath not to reveal it to thee until twelve days were passed, or
thou hadst heard of it from others. For he feared that thou wouldst
waste thy fair cheeks with weeping. But be not cast down; I am sure
that the gods hate not so utterly the house of Odysseus, nor purpose
to destroy it altogether. Vex not the old man Laertes in hi