Then Penelope was comforted, and dried her tears, and went up with her
handmaids to the upper chamber. There she made her offering before the
shrine of Athene, and lifted up her voice in prayer: "Daughter of
Zeus, stern warrior maiden, if ever my lord Odysseus offered
acceptable sacrifice to thee, remember now his service, save my son,
and let not the wooers work evil against him." When her prayer was
ended the women joined their voices with hers, and called again and
again on the awful name of Athene. After that they left her, and she
sank down on a couch, exhausted by her emotions, and full of anxious
thought. At length she ceased her weary tossing, and fell into a quiet
and refreshing sleep.

Athene had heard her prayer, and being full of pity for the sorely
tried lady she resolved to find means to soothe her troubled spirit.
So she made a phantom, like in form and in feature to Iphthime, a
sister of Penelope, who lived with her husband in distant Pheræ. And
the phantom came to the house of Penelope, and entering her chamber by
the keyhole, stood by her bedside and spake to her thus: "Sorrow not
at all, nor vex thy soul for the sake of Telemachus. The gods love thy
son, and will bring him safe home."

Then wise Penelope made answer, slumbering right sweetly at the gates
of dreams: "Dear sister, what has brought thee hither from thy far
distant home? Thou biddest me take comfort, but my heart is torn with
fear and grief for my brave lord, and yet more for Telemachus, who is
encompassed with perils by sea and by land." "Fear nothing," answered
the dim phantom. "He has a mighty helper by his side, even Pallas
Athene, who sent me hither to strengthen and console thee." With that
the ghostly visitor vanished as it came, and left Penelope much