Summary

Eurycleia rushes upstairs to tell Penelope that Odysseus has returned, but Penelope finds it hard to believe. She thinks that a god may be playing a trick on her, and she asks Odysseus for proof that he is who he says. Odysseus instructs Telemachus and the servants to play music and dance as if there is still merriment inside the hall. Then passersby will think that the suitors are still alive. When their families hear of their deaths Odysseus will have to face and possibly fight them, so he wants to delay that moment for as long as possible.

Odysseus is bathed and dressed in fine clothes again, and then he goes to sit beside Penelope. Penelope still needs to test him, however, so she asks Eurycleia to move the marriage bed. Odysseus...