[120] Odysseus was glad when he heard
the omens conveyed to him by the woman's speech, and by the
thunder, for he knew they meant that he should avenge himself on the
suitors.
[122] Then the other maids in the house
rose and lit the fire on the hearth; Telemakhos also rose and put on
his clothes. He girded his sword about his shoulder, bound his
sandals on his comely feet, and took a doughty spear with a point of
sharpened bronze; then he went to the threshold of the room and said
to Eurykleia, "Nurse, did you make the stranger comfortable both as
regards bed and board, or did you let him shift for himself? - for my
mother, good woman though she is, has a way of paying great attention
to second-rate people, and of neglecting others who are in reality
much better men."
[134] "Do not find fault, child," said
Eurykleia, "when there is no one to find fault with. The stranger sat
and drank his wine as long as he liked: your mother did ask him if he
would take any more bread and he said he would not. When he wanted to
go to bed she told the servants to make one for him, but he said he
was such a wretched outcast that he would not sleep on a bed and
under blankets; he insisted on having an undressed bullock's
hide and some sheepskins put for him in the room and I threw a cloak
over him myself."
[144] Then Telemakhos went out of the
court to the place where the Achaeans were meeting in assembly; he
had his spear in his hand, and he was not alone, for his two dogs
went with him. But Eurykleia called the maids and said, "Come, wake
up; set about sweeping the cloisters and sprinkling them with water
to lay the dust; put the covers on the seats; wipe down the tables,
some of you, with a wet sponge; clean out the mixing-jugs and the
cups, and for water from the fountain at once; the suitors will be
here directly; they will be here early, for it is a feast
day."
