"Here I am, my dear sir," said
he, "stay your hand therefore, and tell your father, or he will kill
me in his rage against the suitors for having wasted his substance
and been so foolishly disrespectful to yourself."
Odysseus smiled at him and
answered, "Fear not; Telemakhos has saved your life, that you may
know in future, and tell other people, how greatly better good deeds
prosper than evil ones. Go, therefore, outside the cloisters into the
outer court, and be out of the way of the slaughter - you and the
bard - while I finish my work here inside."
The pair went into the outer
court as fast as they could, and sat down by Zeus’ great altar,
looking fearfully round, and still expecting that they would be
killed. Then Odysseus searched the whole court carefully over, to see
if anyone had managed to hide himself and was still living, but he
found them all lying in the dust and weltering in their blood. They
were like fishes which fishermen have netted out of the sea, and
thrown upon the beach to lie gasping for water till the heat of the
sun makes an end of them. Even so were the suitors lying all huddled
up one against the other.
Then Odysseus said to Telemakhos,
"Call nurse Eurykleia; I have something to say to her."
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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