Straightway Odysseus girt up his rags.  When his great arms and shoulders and thighs were seen, the wooers were amazed and Irus was frightened.  He would have slipped away if Antinous had not caught him and said to him, ’You lubber, you!  If you do not stand up before this man I will have you flung on my ship and sent over to King Echetus, who will cut off your nose and ears and give your flesh to his dogs to eat,’ He took hold of Irus and dragged him into the ring.

The fighters faced each other.  But Odysseus with his hands upraised stood for long without striking, for he was pondering whether he should strike Irus a hard or a light blow.  It seemed to him better to strike him lightly, so that his strength should not be made a matter for the wooers to note and wonder at.  Irus struck first.  He struck Odysseus on the shoulder.  Then Odysseus aimed a blow at his neck, just below the ear, and the beggar fell to the ground, with the blood gushing from his mouth and nose.

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The wooers were not sorry for Irus.  They laughed until they were ready to fall backwards.  Then Odysseus seized Irus by the feet, and dragged him out of the house, and to the gate of the courtyard.  He lifted him up and put him standing against the wall.  Placing the staff in the beggar’s hands, he said, 6 Sit there, and scare off the dogs and swine, and do not let such a one as you lord it over strangers.  A worse thing might have befallen you.’

Then back he went to the hall, with his beggar’s bag on his shoulder and his clothes more ragged than ever.  Back he went, and when the wooers saw him they burst into peals of laughter and shouted out: 

’May Zeus, O stranger, give thee thy dearest wish and thy heart’s desire.  Thou only shalt be beggar in Ithaka.’  They laughed and laughed again when Antinous brought out the great pudding that was the prize.  Odysseus took it from him.  And another of the wooers pledged him in a golden cup, saying, ’May you come to your own, O beggar, and may happiness be yours in time to come.’

While these things were happening, the wife of Odysseus, the lady Penelope, called to Eurycleia, and said, ’This evening I will go into the hall of our house and speak to my son, Telemachus.  Bid my two handmaidens make ready to come with me, for I shrink from going amongst the wooers alone.’

Eurycleia went to tell the handmaidens and Penelope washed off her cheeks the traces of the tears that she had wept that day.  Then she sat down to wait for the handmaidens to come to her.  As she waited she fell into a deep sleep.  And as she slept, the goddess Pallas Athene bathed her face in the Water of Beauty and took all weariness away from her body, and restored all her youthfulness to her.  The sound of the handmaidens’ voices as they came in awakened her, and Penelope rose up to go into the hall.

Now when she came amongst them with her two handmaidens, one standing each side of her, the wooers were amazed, for they had never seen one so beautiful.  The hearts of all were enchanted with love for her, and each prayed that he might have her for his wife.