Then he said to Eumaeus, “Go up to the house, old father, as quickly as you can, and tell my mother that I am come back safe from Pylos, and I will wait for you here.”

And Eumaeus answered, “I hear, master, and understand.  But shall I not go to Laertes on my way and tell him too?  For since you set sail for Pylos, they say he has not eaten or drunk or gone about his work, but sits in his house sorrowing and wasting away with grief.”

But Telemachus bade him go straight to the palace and return at once, and let the queen send word to Laertes by one of the maids.  So Eumaeus went forth, and when Athene saw him go, she drew near, and came and stood by the gateway and showed herself to Ulysses, a tall and beautiful woman, with wisdom in her look.  The dogs saw her too and were afraid, and shrank away whining into the corner of the yard, but Telemachus could not see her.  Then the goddess nodded to Ulysses, and he went out and stood before her, and she said, “Noble Ulysses, now is the time to reveal yourself to your son, and go forth with him to the town, with death and doom for the suitors.  I shall be near you in the battle and eager to fight.”

Then she touched him with her golden wand and gave him his beauty and stature once more, and his old bronzed color came back and his beard grew thick and his garments shone bright again:  and so she sent him to the hut.  And when Telemachus saw him, he marveled and turned away his eyes, for he thought it must be a god.

“Stranger,” he said, “you are changed since a moment ago; your color is not the same, nor your garments.  If you are one of the Immortals, be gracious to us, and let us offer you gifts and sacrifice.”

Then Ulysses cried out, “I am no god, but your own dear father, for whose sake you are suffering cruel wrongs and the spite of men.”  And then he kissed his son and let his tears take their way at last.

But Telemachus could not believe it, and said, “You cannot be my father, but a god come down to deceive me and make me grieve still more.  No mortal could do what you have done, for a moment since you were old and wretched, and poorly clad, and now you seem like one of the heavenly Gods.”

Then his father answered, “My son, no other Ulysses will ever come back to you.  Athene has done this wonder, for she is a goddess and can make men what she will, now poor, now rich, now old, now young; such power have the lords of heaven to exalt us or bring us low.”

Then Telemachus fell on his neck, and they wept aloud together.  And they would have wept out their hearts till evening, had not Telemachus asked his father how he had come to Ithaca at last; and Ulysses told him that the sea-kings had brought him and put him on shore asleep, and that Athene had sent him to the swineherd’s hut.  “But now tell me of the suitors.  How many are they and what manner of men?  Can the two of us make head against the throng?”