Evening was now coming on, and it was time for the herdsmen to return
with their charge from the feeding-ground. Presently, with huge
commotion, and multitudinous din, the swine were driven home and
penned in their styes. Then Eumæus called to his helpers, and bade
them bring the best of the herd to make savoury meat for his guest
"Spare not," he said, "to bring the fattest and choicest of them all,
for why should we be careful, when strangers devour our labour?" So
they brought a hog of five years old, exceeding fat, and having
slaughtered it they offered sacrifice, not forgetting a prayer for the
return of Odysseus. When all rites of religion were duly paid, they
roasted the flesh, and served it on wooden platters. Odysseus was
honoured by Eumæus with a choice portion of the loin.
When they had finished, night came on, dark and stormy, with furious
gusts of rain and wind. Just as they were about to retire to rest,
Odysseus, who seldom spoke without a purpose, turned to his kind host
and said: "Eumæus, the good wine has loosened my tongue, and moved me
to tell thee a story of long ago, when these withered limbs were in
their lusty prime, and my heart burned with the fire of youth. Then I
was chosen with Menelaus and Odysseus to lead an ambush under the
walls of Troy. With a picked company we took up our position in a
marshy place, and lay down in our armour among the rushes. It was a
bitter night, with snow and frost, and our shields were soon coated
with ice. Now it chanced that I had left my cloak in the camp, and
while the others lay warm in their thick woollen mantles, I was
perishing with cold. At last I could bear it no longer, so I nudged
Odysseus, who was lying next to me, with my elbow, and said to him:
'Son of Laertes, the cold is killing me. I came in my folly without a
cloak, and I can never hold out until dawn in this cruel frost.' And
he, ever ready of wit as he was, instantly contrived means to relieve
me. Whispering to me to keep counsel he rose on his elbow, and called
to the others, saying: 'Comrades, I have been warned in a dream that
our numbers are too weak for the task which has been laid upon us.
Will not one of you run down to the camp, and ask Agamemnon to send us
further succour?'
"Thereupon one of our men arose, and flinging off his cloak ran off to
carry the message to Agamemnon. And I lay wrapped in the garment, warm
and safe, until the dawn. Ah! those were brave days; what changes have
I seen since then!"
"I read thy meaning," said Eumæus; "and as a reward for thy good story
thou shalt sleep in comfort to-night. But to-morrow thou must make
shift to wear thine own rags again, for I am but ill furnished with
changes of raiment. When Telemachus returns he will supply all thy
wants, and send thee whithersoever thou art minded to go."
So saying he drew a truckle-bed close to the fire, and heaped it with
the skins of sheep and goats. There Odysseus lay down to rest, and
Eumæus threw over him a stout mantle of his own. All the other
herdsmen slept in the hut; but Eumæus, ever watchful for his master's
property, went out, armed to the teeth, to pass the night among the
swine, under the shelter of a hollow rock, which kept off the cold
north wind. And Odysseus was glad when he saw that good servant so
faithful to his trust.