珀涅罗珀的织品（7）（2/2）
《泰西故事30篇》作者：李汉昭 2017-04-10 17:32
l have to refill the bowl.”
“Dear nurse,” whispered the seeming beggar, “you were ever discreet and wise. You know me by the old scar that I have carried on my knee since boyhood. Keep well the secret, for I bide my time and the hour of vengeance is nigh.”
“O Ulysses, my master,” she answered softly, “I knew that you would come.”
This man in rags was indeed Ulysses, the king. Alone in a little boat he had been cast, that very morning, upon the shore of his own island. He had made himself known first to old Eumaeus and then to his son Telemachus, but to no other person; and it was by his orders that the weapons had been removed from the great hall.
But the old nurse was prudent and shrewd. With the empty bowl in her hands, she hobbled from the hall to refill it, muttering loud complaints against the troublesome beggar. And Telemachus, bending over his father, whispered hoarsely, “Shall we not strike now?”
Ⅵ The Web Is Finished
In the meanwhile the suitors had gathered again around the feast table and were more boisterous than before. “Come, fair Penelope!” they shouted. “Come and grace our banquet with your presence. The beggar can tell his tale tomorrow, for we shall delay no longer. The moon is full, and your promise must be redeemed. Come! choose a husband from among us. For you know this, that Ulysses, even though he lives, shall never again enter this house.”
“Yes, choose! choose!” cried the younger men, as the queen passed slowly to the head of the hall.
“Choose me,” said Agelaus, the fop, “for not even Apollo can match me for grace of form and figure.”
“Choose me,” said rich Leocritus, “and the treasures of land and sea shall be yours.”
“Choose me,” said Antinous, the insolent;“for you dare not arouse my displeasure, and you shall be mine whether you choose or not.”
“Chiefs and princes,” said Penelope, in trembling tones, “it is not fit that I should decide this question. Let us leave it to the gods. Behold, there hangs the great bow of Ulysses with which he was wont to do most valiant deeds ere cruel fate called him to Troy. Let each of you try his strength in bending it, and I will choose that one who can shoot an arrow from it the most skillfully.”
“Dear nurse,” whispered the seeming beggar, “you were ever discreet and wise. You know me by the old scar that I have carried on my knee since boyhood. Keep well the secret, for I bide my time and the hour of vengeance is nigh.”
“O Ulysses, my master,” she answered softly, “I knew that you would come.”
This man in rags was indeed Ulysses, the king. Alone in a little boat he had been cast, that very morning, upon the shore of his own island. He had made himself known first to old Eumaeus and then to his son Telemachus, but to no other person; and it was by his orders that the weapons had been removed from the great hall.
But the old nurse was prudent and shrewd. With the empty bowl in her hands, she hobbled from the hall to refill it, muttering loud complaints against the troublesome beggar. And Telemachus, bending over his father, whispered hoarsely, “Shall we not strike now?”
Ⅵ The Web Is Finished
In the meanwhile the suitors had gathered again around the feast table and were more boisterous than before. “Come, fair Penelope!” they shouted. “Come and grace our banquet with your presence. The beggar can tell his tale tomorrow, for we shall delay no longer. The moon is full, and your promise must be redeemed. Come! choose a husband from among us. For you know this, that Ulysses, even though he lives, shall never again enter this house.”
“Yes, choose! choose!” cried the younger men, as the queen passed slowly to the head of the hall.
“Choose me,” said Agelaus, the fop, “for not even Apollo can match me for grace of form and figure.”
“Choose me,” said rich Leocritus, “and the treasures of land and sea shall be yours.”
“Choose me,” said Antinous, the insolent;“for you dare not arouse my displeasure, and you shall be mine whether you choose or not.”
“Chiefs and princes,” said Penelope, in trembling tones, “it is not fit that I should decide this question. Let us leave it to the gods. Behold, there hangs the great bow of Ulysses with which he was wont to do most valiant deeds ere cruel fate called him to Troy. Let each of you try his strength in bending it, and I will choose that one who can shoot an arrow from it the most skillfully.”