Odysseus
I told Eurykleia to go fetch Penelope and tell her I was home. When they came downstairs, Penelope sat as far away from me as possible. Telemakhos scolded her for being so skeptical that it was me but I guess I couldn’t really blame her. I was caked with dirt and blood; how could I expect her to recognize me? I took a bath, perhaps hoping that would reassure her but she still didn’t believe it was me. She saw my person in front of her but it just wasn’t enough. Penelope began to test me. She told Eurykleia to pile our bed with linens and let me sleep there, outside the bedchamber I had built. I was enraged by the thought of someone moving our bed! And then I realized that was the sign. We two knew that our room had been built around the trunk of an olive tree. Penelope came to me and apologized for having to test me and being so coldhearted. I cried when she was in my arms, but I don’t like to talk about that. I told her about my mission to go inland and make sacrifices. We went to bed and talked for hours before finally falling asleep, together at last.
I told Eurykleia to go fetch Penelope and tell her I was home. When they came downstairs, Penelope sat as far away from me as possible. Telemakhos scolded her for being so skeptical that it was me but I guess I couldn’t really blame her. I was caked with dirt and blood; how could I expect her to recognize me? I took a bath, perhaps hoping that would reassure her but she still didn’t believe it was me. She saw my person in front of her but it just wasn’t enough. Penelope began to test me. She told Eurykleia to pile our bed with linens and let me sleep there, outside the bedchamber I had built. I was enraged by the thought of someone moving our bed! And then I realized that was the sign. We two knew that our room had been built around the trunk of an olive tree. Penelope came to me and apologized for having to test me and being so coldhearted. I cried when she was in my arms, but I don’t like to talk about that. I told her about my mission to go inland and make sacrifices. We went to bed and talked for hours before finally falling asleep, together at last.
Penelope
I’m not sure if Odysseus truly understood why I couldn’t go to him. I’m not even sure if I really understand. It’s like my dream, with the geese. I was sad to see them go, but I didn’t know why. If the geese were the suitors, why would I be sad they were gone? Could it just be that after all these years of hurt and false hope I couldn’t bear to let myself actually believe in something? Or did I really not want him to come back? No, that can’t be it; I love him! Of course I wanted him to come back. It must havbe just been I didn’t want to get hurt again. Eurykleia woke me up from my peaceful sleep to tell me Odysseus had returned! But I was content to stay there in sweet sleep rather than cross the potentially painful frontier of Odysseus’s return. I had become accustomed to numb pain, maybe I just didn’t want the wound to open up again.
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