Then around their guest The kindly children of Autolycus Came and bound up with care the wound, and stanched With spells the dark blood of the blameless youth, And hastened with him to their father’s home.
And when Autolycus and they his sons Had seen him wholly healed, they loaded him With presents, and, rejoicing for his sake, Sent him rejoicing back to Ithaca.
His father and his gracious mother there Rejoiced in turn, and asked him of the scar, And how it came, and he related all— How by the white tusk of a savage boar The wound was given on the Parnassian heights, As he was hunting with her father’s sons.
The aged woman, as she took the foot Into her hands, perceived by touch the scar, And, letting fall the limb, it struck the vase. Loud rang the brass, the vase was overturned, And poured the water forth. At once a rush Of gladness and of grief came o’er her heart. Tears filled her eyes, and her clear voice was choked. She touched Ulysses on the chin, and said:—
“Dear child! thou art Ulysses, of a truth. I knew thee not till I had touched the scar.”
So speaking, toward Penelope she turned Her eyes, about to tell her that her lord Was in the palace; but the queen saw not, And all that passed was unperceived by her, For Pallas turned her thoughts another way. Meantime, Ulysses on the nurse’s throat Laid his right hand, and with the other drew The aged woman nearer him, and said:—
“Nurse, wouldst thou ruin me, who drew long since Milk from thy bosom, and who now return, After much suffering borne for twenty