Page 339 - the-odyssey

saying ‘Father Jove, since you have seen fit to bring me over
land and sea to my own home after all the afflictions you
have laid upon me, give me a sign out of the mouth of some
one or other of those who are now waking within the house,
and let me have another sign of some kind from outside.’
Thus did he pray. Jove heard his prayer and forthwith
thundered high up among the clouds from the splendour
of Olympus, and Ulysses was glad when he heard it. At the
same time within the house, a miller-woman from hard by
in the mill room lifted up her voice and gave him anoth-
er sign. There were twelve miller-women whose business it
was to grind wheat and barley which are the staff of life. The
others had ground their task and had gone to take their rest,
but this one had not yet finished, for she was not so strong
as they were, and when she heard the thunder she stopped
grinding and gave the sign to her master. ‘Father Jove,’ said
she, ‘you, who rule over heaven and earth, you have thun-
dered from a clear sky without so much as a cloud in it, and
this means something for somebody; grant the prayer, then,
of me your poor servant who calls upon you, and let this be
the very last day that the suitors dine in the house of Ulyss-
es. They have worn me out with labour of grinding meal for
them, and I hope they may never have another dinner any-
where at all.’
Ulysses was glad when he heard the omens conveyed to
him by the woman’s speech, and by the thunder, for he knew
they meant that he should avenge himself on the suitors.
Then the other maids in the house rose and lit the fire
on the hearth; Telemachus also rose and put on his clothes.

The Odyssey