English World literature I week one assignments
twoofus
book_thirteen-eighteen.docxBook Thirteen
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When Odysseus has finished his tale , the king orders him sped to Ithaca. A rug is spread on the deck of the ship, and he sleeps the whole way. The sailors put him down on the beach still sleeping, together with the magnificent gifts of the Phaeacians. Upon awakening he spends a good deal of time wondering how he is going to protect this treasure. Athena casts a protective mist about him that keeps him from recognizing his homeland. Finally the goddess reveals herself and dispells the mist. In joy Odysseus kisses the ground. Athena transforms him into an old man as a disguise. Clad in a filthy tunic, he goes off to find his faithful swineherd, as instructed by the goddess. |
Book Fourteen
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Eumaeus the swineherd welcomes the bedraggled stranger. He throws his own bedcover over a pile of boughs as a seat for Odysseus, who does not reveal his identity. Observing Zeus's commandment to be kind to guests, Eumaeus slaughters a prime boar and serves it with bread and wine. Odysseus, true to his fame as a smooth-talking schemer, makes up an elaborate story of his origins. That night the hero sleeps by the fire under the swineherd's spare cloak, while Eumaeus himself sleeps outside in the rain with his herd. |
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Athena summons Telemachus home and tells him how to avoid an ambush by the suitors. Meanwhile back on Ithaca, Odysseus listens while the swineherd Eumaeus recounts the story of his life. Eumaeus was the child of a prosperous mainland king, whose realm was visited by Phoenician traders. His nursemaid, a Phoenician herself, had been carried off by pirates as a girl and sold into slavery. In return for homeward passage with her countrymen, she kidnapped Eumaeus. He was bought by Odysseus' father, whose queen raised him as a member of the family. |
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Book Sixteen
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Telemachus evades the suitors' ambush and, following Athena's instructions, proceeds to the farmstead of Eumaeus. There he makes the acquaintance of the tattered guest and sends Eumaeus to his mother to announce his safe return. Later they plot the suitors' doom. Concerned that the odds are fifty-to-one, Telemachus suggests that they might need reinforcements. "Aren't Zeus and Athena reinforcement enough?" asks Odysseus. |
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Book Seventeen
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Disguised once more as an old beggar, Odysseus journeys to town. On the trail he encounters an insolent goatherd named Melanthius , who curses and tries to kick him. At his castle gate, the hero is recognized by Argos , a broken-down old dog that he had raised as a pup. Having seen his master again, the faithful hound dies. At Athena's urging Odysseus begs food from the suitors. One man, Antinous , berates him and refuses so much as a crust. He hurls a footstool at Odysseus, hitting him in the back. This makes even the other suitors nervous, for sometimes the gods masquerade as mortals to test their righteousness. |
Book Eighteen
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Now a real beggar shows up at the palace and warns Odysseus off his turf. This man, Irus , is always running errands for the suitors. Odysseus says that there are pickings enough for the two of them, but Irus threatens fisticuffs and the suitors egg him on. Odysseus rises to the challenge and rolls up his tunic into a boxer's belt. The suitors goggle at the muscles revealed. Not wishing to kill Irus with a single blow, Odysseus breaks his jaw instead. Another suitor, Eurymachus, marks himself for revenge by trying to hit Odysseus with a footstool as Antinous had done. |
