made known my case to him, assuring him that I must inevitably perish. He
answered in a low whisper, 'Hush, lest any Greek should hear you, and take
notice of your softness.' Not a word more he said, but showed as if he had
no pity for the plight I was in. But he was as considerate as he was
brave; and even then, as he lay with his head reposing upon his hand, he
was meditating how to relieve me, without exposing my weakness to the
soldiers. At last, raising up his head, he made as if he had been asleep,
and said, 'Friends, I have been warned in a dream to send to the fleet to
king Agamemnon for a supply, to recruit our numbers, for we are not
sufficient for this enterprise; and they believing him, one Thoas was
despatched on that errand, who departing, for more speed, as Ulysses had
foreseen, left his upper garment behind him, a good warm mantle, to which
I succeeded, and by the help of it got through the night with credit. This
shift Ulysses made for one in need, and would to heaven that I had now
that strength in my limbs which made me in those days to be accounted fit
to be a leader under Ulysses! I should not then want the loan of a cloak
or a mantle, to wrap about me and shield my old limbs from the night air."

The tale pleased the herdsmen; and Eumaeus, who more than all the rest was
gratified to hear tales of Ulysses, true or false, said that for his story
he deserved a mantle, and a night's lodging, which he should have; and he
spread for him a bed of goat and sheep skins by the fire; and the seeming
beggar, who was indeed the true Ulysses, lay down and slept under that
poor roof, in that abject disguise to which the will of Minerva had
subjected him.

When morning was come, Ulysses made offer to depart, as if he were not
willing to burden his host's hospitality any longer, but said that he
would go and try the humanity of the townsfolk, if any there would bestow
upon him a bit of bread or a cup of drink. Perhaps the queen's suitors (he