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Then she told her old nurse Euryclea to wash the stranger’s feet . Odysseus sat in the shadow , away from the fire . But he was worried . There was a scar on his leg . He had got it as a young man , when a wild boar attacked him on a hunt . Euryclea washed his feet , and her hands found the scar . She knew it at once . She dropped his foot , and it knocked over the bowl . The water ran all over the floor . Her eyes filled with tears . “ You are Odysseus , my own child ! ” she whispered . She turned to look at Penelope , but Athena made Penelope think of something else . Odysseus put his hand over the old woman’s mouth . “ Quiet , nurse , ” he whispered . “ Don’t tell anyone , not even my wife . Not yet . ” Then Penelope spoke to the beggar again . “ Tomorrow is a sad day for me , ” she said . “ I will have to choose a husband . My husband had a great bow . He used to set up twelve axes in a row , and he could shoot an arrow through all of them . Tomorrow I will bring out his bow . I will marry the man who can string it and shoot through the twelve axes . ” “ Do it , lady , ” said the beggar . “ Odysseus will be here before any of them can string his bow . ” XIII . The Bow of Odysseus Penelope went to the storeroom and took down the great bow . It was a present from an old friend of Odysseus . She sat down with it on her knees and cried . Then she brought it into the hall with the arrows and the axes . “ Listen , suitors , ” she said . “ Here is the bow of Odysseus . The man who strings it most easily and shoots through all twelve axes will be my husband . ” Telemachus set up the axes in a straight line . Each axe had a ring at the end of its handle . Then he tried to string the bow himself . Three times he tried and failed . The fourth time he nearly did it , but his father shook his head . So Telemachus put the bow down . Then the suitors tried , one after another . They warmed the bow by the fire and rubbed fat on it . But it was too strong for them all . Nobody could even bend it . While they were trying , Odysseus went outside with Eumaeus and Philoetius , who looked after his cows . “ If Odysseus came home today , would you fight for him ? ” he asked . “ Yes , ” they both said . “ Oh , if only the gods would bring him home ! ” “ I am Odysseus , ” he said . “ I have come home after twenty years . ” He showed them the scar on his leg . They cried and kissed him , and he told them his plan . Philoetius went to lock the gate of the courtyard . Eumaeus told Euryclea to lock the doors to the women’s rooms . Back in the hall , Eurymachus tried the bow and failed . “ Let’s try again tomorrow , ” said Antinous .
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