Page 259 - the-odyssey

who comes here; but there is no getting a kind word or deed
out of my mistress, for the house has fallen into the hands
of wicked people. Servants want sometimes to see their mis-
tress and have a talk with her; they like to have something
to eat and drink at the house, and something too to take
back with them into the country. This is what will keep ser-
vants in a good humour.’
Ulysses answered, ‘Then you must have been a very lit-
tle fellow, Eumaeus, when you were taken so far away from
your home and parents. Tell me, and tell me true, was the
city in which your father and mother lived sacked and pil-
laged, or did some enemies carry you off when you were
alone tending sheep or cattle, ship you off here, and sell you
for whatever your master gave them?’
‘Stranger,’ replied Eumaeus, ‘as regards your question: sit
still, make yourself comfortable, drink your wine, and lis-
ten to me. The nights are now at their longest; there is plenty
of time both for sleeping and sitting up talking together;
you ought not to go to bed till bed time, too much sleep is
as bad as too little; if any one of the others wishes to go to
bed let him leave us and do so; he can then take my master’s
pigs out when he has done breakfast in the morning. We
too will sit here eating and drinking in the hut, and telling
one another stories about our misfortunes; for when a man
has suffered much, and been buffeted about in the world,
he takes pleasure in recalling the memory of sorrows that
have long gone by. As regards your question, then, my tale
is as follows:
‘You may have heard of an island called Syra that lies over

The Odyssey