At Ithaca, Odysseus woke up from his slumber and looked around. He did not recognise his own land. Goddess Athene had deliberately covered it in mist. She did not want anybody to see Odysseus, even his wife and relatives, before he defeated and punished the men who had taken over his wealth and home. He lamented aloud: “I’m stranded in a strange land once again. I don’t know if the people who live here are savages or not. Will they steal my gifts if I leave it here in the open? Those Phaicians did not intend to do me good, after all. Otherwise, they would have taken me to Ithaca. May Zeus punish all sinners.”
Athene now appeared before Odysseus in the form of a young
shepherd. Odysseus was relieved to see a fellow being. He greeted her warmly
and enquired about the strange land and the men who lived there.
“This is Ithaca. Though a rugged country, it is fertile,
with plenty of corn and wine. The people here tend to sheep and cattle,” said
Athene. Then she asked Odysseus who he was and his whereabouts.
Odysseus was happy that he had reached his homeland at last.
However, he restrained his emotions and imagined a story.
Goddess Athene smiled and reverted to her true form – she
was a tall, majestic woman, and her eyes sparkled with intelligence. Odysseus
was awed by her appearance and bowed to her in reverence. She stroked him
gently on the back and said, “What a scheming rogue you are! Even a god
couldn’t spin tales like you! Haven’t you recognised me - Athene, the daughter
of Zeus? I had made the Phaicians help you safely reach here. And here I’m
again, with a plan to reclaim your throne for you. Beware; terrible danger
awaits you at your own hearth. So don’t reveal your real self to anybody until
I tell you.”
Odysseus took the liberty to ask her a few questions that
had been intriguing him for long. “Why hadn’t you thought of coming to my
assistance earlier?” he asked her, rather angrily. Athene explained that
Poseidon’s anger had kept her from helping him before.
She then dispelled the mist and the land became clear to
Odysseus. At the sight of his homeland, he knelt down and kissed the earth. He
lifted his hands up and uttered a prayer to the nymphs.
Athene stowed away Odysseus’s gifts safely in a cave nearby.
She then told him how the men had been harassing Penelope day and night. She
spoke highly of Penelope who was waiting for her husband’s return. They then
discussed how to defeat those heartless suitors.
“They shall not recognise you,” said Athene, and transformed
Odysseus into a vagabond. At the stroke of her wand, his muscular body became
shrivelled, his sharp eyes wrinkled, and hair greyed. His finery turned into
rags. She then handed a stick, a twist of cord and an old bag riddled with
holes to him.
“You must first visit Eumaeus, your old and faithful
swineherd who lives on that hillock. I shall bring your son Telemachus safely
to Ithaca. He’s been visiting Meneleaus to gather information about you,” she
said.
“Why didn’t you tell
Telemachus what you knew about me? Did you want him to drift over the high seas
perilously just as I did?” blurted out Odysseus angrily.
“I know what is good for him. Don’t you want him to earn
some credit of his own?” retorted Athene and set off.
Odysseus walked through the woods and reached the hilltop.
He found old Eumaeus seated in front of the house and cutting a pair of shoes
from a large piece of leather. His four dogs lay at his feet. A faithful
servant, he had left the palace soon after Odysseus departure for Troy. He had built
a house on the hillock and tended to Odysseus’s pigs from there. Odysseus
noticed a large enclosure nearby inside which were twelve pens. Each pen housed
fifty sows and their litter.
Suddenly, the dogs sighted Odysseus. They jerked up and
started barking furiously. Odysseus dropped his stick down and sat on the
ground. The swineherd rushed up and quietened the dogs. “Stranger, the dogs
would have roughed you up if I had not rushed here. I already have enough
matters to worry about. I’m feeding strangers with my master’s hogs, while my
master is wandering through unknown lands, without a morsel to eat. Is there
anything more to pain a faithful servant? First, come inside, and have
something to eat. Then, tell me who you are and where you come from,” rambled the
old man. The words of the faithful servant touched Odysseus.
Eumaeus prepared a seat for Odysseus by laying a pile of
thick twigs and spreading the skin of a wild goat over them. He slaughtered a
pig and prepared dinner for his guest.
(To be continued)
Painting: Ulysses and Argo by James Baldwin in 1950
