"
So menacing were his looks and his tones that the women fled quaking
from the hall and left him to tend the fires. So there he stood in
view of the whole company, to their eyes a poor outcast, intent on his
menial task; but thoughts other than of the fires filled his heart.
As he stooped over one of the braziers and stirred the fuel into a
blaze, Eurymachus noticed the red gleam which was reflected from the
smooth, bald crown of the supposed beggar. "Look!" he cried, laughing
and pointing at Odysseus, "surely this man is a favourite of heaven;
for see how the light shines like a crown of glory on his hairless
pate!"
Then he called to Odysseus, and said: "How sayest thou, friend, wilt
thou be my thrall, and work on my farm among the hills for a fixed
wage? Thy business would be to repair the stone fences and work on the
plantation; thou wouldst have a whole coat to thy back, and shoes to
thy feet, and thy penny fee, and bread to eat all the year round. But
I can read thine answer in thy face: thou wouldst rather crouch and
whine for bread than do aught useful to earn thy living."
"Eurymachus," answered Odysseus firmly, "I would that I could prove my
manhood against thine in any trial of strength and endurance. Let it
be a match of mowing, in a rich meadow-land, on the longest day in
spring, and let us ply the scythe together, fasting, from dawn till
eve. Or give me a stout pair of oxen, mighty beasts, equal in
strength, and both well filled with fodder, and set me to plough a
field of four acres, of rich, deep soil--then wouldst thou see if I
could drive a straight furrow.
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