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And Eumaios answered, "Old man,
you have told us an excellent story [ainos], and have
said nothing so far but what is quite satisfactory; for the present,
therefore, you shall want neither clothing nor anything else that a
stranger in distress may reasonably expect, but tomorrow morning you
have to shake your own old rags about your body again, for we have
not many spare cloaks nor shirts up here, but every man has only one.
When Odysseus’ son comes home again he will give you both cloak
and shirt, and send you wherever you may want to go."
With this he got up and made a
bed for Odysseus by throwing some goatskins and sheepskins on the
ground in front of the fire. Here Odysseus lay down, and Eumaios
covered him over with a great heavy cloak that he kept for a change
in case of extraordinarily bad weather.
Thus did Odysseus sleep, and the
young men slept beside him. But the swineherd did not like sleeping
away from his pigs, so he got ready to go and Odysseus was glad to
see that he looked after his property during his master's
absence. First he slung his sword over his brawny shoulders and put
on a thick cloak to keep out the wind. He also took the skin of a
large and well fed goat, and a javelin in case of attack from men or
dogs. Thus equipped he went to his rest where the pigs were camping
under an overhanging rock that gave them shelter from the North wind.
Homer. The Odyssey. Rendered into English prose for the use of those who cannot read the original. Samuel Butler. Based on public domain edition, revised by Timothy Power and Gregory Nagy. A. C. Fifield, London. 1900 (?).
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