Page 234 - the-odyssey

it in his hands, ‘My friend, who was this master of yours
that bought you and paid for you, so rich and so power-
ful as you tell me? You say he perished in the cause of King
Agamemnon; tell me who he was, in case I may have met
with such a person. Jove and the other gods know, but I may
be able to give you news of him, for I have travelled much.’
Eumaeus answered, ‘Old man, no traveller who comes
here with news will get Ulysses’ wife and son to believe his
story. Nevertheless, tramps in want of a lodging keep com-
ing with their mouths full of lies, and not a word of truth;
every one who finds his way to Ithaca goes to my mistress
and tells her falsehoods, whereon she takes them in, makes
much of them, and asks them all manner of questions, cry-
ing all the time as women will when they have lost their
husbands. And you too, old man, for a shirt and a cloak
would doubtless make up a very pretty story. But the wolves
and birds of prey have long since torn Ulysses to pieces, or
the fishes of the sea have eaten him, and his bones are lying
buried deep in sand upon some foreign shore; he is dead
and gone, and a bad business it is for all his friends—for me
especially; go where I may I shall never find so good a mas-
ter, not even if I were to go home to my mother and father
where I was bred and born. I do not so much care, however,
about my parents now, though I should dearly like to see
them again in my own country; it is the loss of Ulysses that
grieves me most; I cannot speak of him without reverence
though he is here no longer, for he was very fond of me, and
took such care of me that wherever he may be I shall always
honour his memory.’