[54] As she spoke she shed sleep over
his eyes, and then went back to Olympus.
[56] While Odysseus was thus yielding
himself to a very deep slumber that eased the burden of his sorrows,
his admirable wife awoke, and sitting up in her bed began to cry.
When she had relieved herself by weeping she prayed to Artemis
saying, "Great Goddess Artemis, daughter of Zeus, drive an arrow into
my heart and slay me; or let some whirlwind snatch me up and bear me
through paths of darkness till it drop me into the mouths of
overflowing Okeanos, as it did the daughters of Pandareus. The
daughters of Pandareus lost their father and mother, for the gods
killed them, so they were left orphans. But Aphrodite took care of
them, and fed them on cheese, honey, and sweet wine. Hera taught them
to excel all women in beauty of form and understanding; Artemis gave
them an imposing presence, and Athena endowed them with every kind of
accomplishment; but one day when Aphrodite had gone up to Olympus to
see Zeus about getting them married (for well does he know both what
shall happen and what not happen to every one) the storm winds came
and spirited them away to become handmaids to the dread Erinyes. Even
so I wish that the gods who live in heaven would hide me from mortal
sight, or that fair Artemis might strike me, for I would fain go even
beneath the sad earth if I might do so still looking towards Odysseus
only, and without having to yield myself to a worse man than he was.
Besides, no matter how many people may grieve by day, they can put up
with it so long as they can sleep at night, for when the eyes are
closed in slumber people forget good and ill alike; whereas my
miserable daimn haunts me even in my dreams. This very
night I thought there was one lying by my side who was like Odysseus
as he was when he went away with his host, and I rejoiced, for I
believed that it was no dream, but the very truth itself."
[91] On this the day broke, but
Odysseus heard the sound of her weeping, and it puzzled him, for it
seemed as though she already knew him and was by his side. Then he
gathered up the cloak and the fleeces on which he had lain, and set
them on a seat in the room, but he took the bullock's hide out
into the open. He lifted up his hands to heaven, and prayed, saying
"Father Zeus, since you have seen fit to bring me over land and sea
to my own home after all the afflictions you have laid upon me, give
me a sign out of the mouth of some one or other of those who are now
waking within the house, and let me have another sign of some kind
from outside."
[102] Thus did he pray. Zeus heard his
prayer and forthwith thundered high up among the from the splendor of
Olympus, and Odysseus was glad when he heard it. At the same time
within the house, a miller-woman from hard by in the mill room lifted
up her voice and gave him another sign. There were twelve
miller-women whose business it was to grind wheat and barley which
are the staff of life. The others had ground their task and had gone
to take their rest, but this one had not yet finished, for she was
not so strong as they were, and when she heard the thunder she
stopped grinding and gave the sign [sma] to her
master. "Father Zeus," said she, "you who rule over heaven and earth,
you have thundered from a clear sky without so much as a cloud in it,
and this means something for somebody; answer the prayer, then, of me
your poor servant who calls upon you, and let this be the very last
day that the suitors dine in the house of Odysseus. They have worn me
out with the labor of grinding meal for them, and I hope they may
never have another dinner anywhere at all."
