And so Odysseus bade good-bye to his infant son, Telemachus, and to his young wife Penelope, and to his father, old Laertes.  And he bade good-bye to his house and his lands and to the island of Ithaka where he was King.  He summoned a council of the chief men of Ithaka and commended to their care his wife and his child and all his household, and thereafter he took his sailors and his fighting men with him and he sailed away.  The years went by and Odysseus did not return.  After ten years the City was taken by the Kings and Princes of Greece and the thread of war was wound up.  But still Odysseus did not return.  And now minstrels came to Ithaka with word of the deaths or the homecomings of the heroes who had fought in the war against Troy.  But no minstrel brought any word of Odysseus, of his death or of his appearance in any land known to men.  Ten years more went by.  And now that infant son whom he had left behind, Telemachus, had grown up and was a young man of strength and purpose.

[Illustration]

II

One day, as he sat sad and disconsolate in the house of his father, the youth Telemachus saw a stranger come to the outer gate.  There were many in the court outside, but no one went to receive the newcomer.  Then, because he would never let a stranger stand at the gate without hurrying out to welcome him, and because, too, he had hopes that some day such a one would bring him tidings of his father, Telemachus rose up from where he was sitting and went down the hall and through the court and to the gate at which the stranger stood.

‘Welcome to the house of Odysseus,’ said Telemachus giving him his hand.  The stranger clasped it with a friendly clasp.  ’I thank you, Telemachus,’ he said, ’for your welcome, and glad I am to enter the house of your father, the renowned Odysseus.’

The stranger looked like one who would be a captain amongst soldiers.  His eyes were grey and clear and shone wonderfully.  In his hand he carried a great bronze spear.  He and Telemachus went together through the court and into the hall.  And when the stranger left his spear within the spearstand Telemachus took him to a high chair and put a footstool under his feet.

He had brought him to a place in the hall where the crowd would not come.  There were many in the court outside and Telemachus would not have his guest disturbed by questions or clamours.  A handmaid brought water for the washing of his hands, and poured it over them from a golden ewer into a silver basin.  A polished table was left at his side.  Then the house-dame brought wheaten bread and many dainties.  Other servants set down dishes of meat with golden cups, and afterwards the maids came into the hall and filled up the cups with wine.

But the servants who waited on Telemachus and his guest were disturbed by the crowd of men who now came into the hall.  They seated themselves at tables and shouted out their orders.  Great dishes of meat were brought to them and bowls of wine, and the men ate and drank and talked loudly to each other and did not refrain even from staring at the stranger who sat with Telemachus.