world literature one--week two assignments

The next morning Odysseus asks for a sign, and Zeus sends a clap of thunder out of the clear blue sky. A servant recognizes it as a portent and prays that this day be the last of the suitors' abuse.

Odysseus encounters another herdsman. Like the swineherd Eumaeus, this man, who tends the realm's cattle, swears his loyalty to the absent king.

A prophet, an exiled murderer whom Telemachus has befriended, shares a vision with the suitors: "I see the walls of this mansion dripping with your blood." The suitors respond with gales of laughter.

Penelope now appears before the suitors in her glittering veil. In her hand is a stout bow left behind by Odysseus when he sailed for Troy. "Whoever strings this bow," she says, "and sends an arrow straight through the sockets of twelve ax heads lined in a row -- that man will I marry."

The suitors take turns trying to bend the bow to string it, but all of them lack the strength. Odysseus asks if he might try. The suitors refuse, fearing that they'll be shamed if the beggar succeeds. But Telemachus insists and his anger distracts them into laughter.

As easily as a bard fitting a new string to his lyre, Odysseus strings the bow and sends an arrow through the ax heads. At a sign from his father, Telemachus arms himself and takes up a station by his side.

The mansion is purged with fire and brimstone. Odysseus tells everyone to dress in their finest and dance, so that passers-by won't suspect what's happened. Even Odysseus could not hold vengeful kinfolk at bay.

Penelope still won't accept that it's truly her husband returned unless he gives her some secret sign. She tells a servant to make up his bed in the hall.

Penelope rushes into his arms. The joy they share is like that of a drowning man who feels solid ground beneath his feet once more .

The next morning Odysseus goes upcountry to the vineyard where his father, old King Laertes , labors like a peasant. Ever since his wife died of heartbreak for Odysseus, the miserable man has lived with his fieldhands. Odysseus cannot resist testing his father with a tall tale before their fond reunion.

Meanwhile, the kin of the suitors have borne off their dead and gathered at the assembly ground. The father of the suitor Antinous fires them up for revenge. Odysseus, Telemachus, the loyal herdsmen, Laertes and the fieldhands arm themselves to meet the challenge.

Inspired by Athena, Laertes casts a lance through the helmet of Antinous' father, who falls to the ground in a clatter of armor. But at the command of Zeus , the fighting stops right there. Athena, in the guise of an old family friend, tells the contending parties to live together in peace down through the years to come.