Thus did he urge the swineherd; Eumaeus, therefore, took his sandals, bound them to his feet, and started for the town.  Minerva watched him well off the station, and then came up to it in the form of a woman—­fair, stately, and wise.  She stood against the side of the entry, and revealed herself to Ulysses, but Telemachus could not see her, and knew not that she was there, for the gods do not let themselves be seen by everybody.  Ulysses saw her, and so did the dogs, for they did not bark, but went scared and whining off to the other side of the yards.  She nodded her head and motioned to Ulysses with her eyebrows; whereon he left the hut and stood before her outside the main wall of the yards.  Then she said to him: 

“Ulysses, noble son of Laertes, it is now time for you to tell your son:  do not keep him in the dark any longer, but lay your plans for the destruction of the suitors, and then make for the town.  I will not be long in joining you, for I too am eager for the fray.”

As she spoke she touched him with her golden wand.  First she threw a fair clean shirt and cloak about his shoulders; then she made him younger and of more imposing presence; she gave him back his colour, filled out his cheeks, and let his beard become dark again.  Then she went away and Ulysses came back inside the hut.  His son was astounded when he saw him, and turned his eyes away for fear he might be looking upon a god.

“Stranger,” said he, “how suddenly you have changed from what you were a moment or two ago.  You are dressed differently and your colour is not the same.  Are you some one or other of the gods that live in heaven?  If so, be propitious to me till I can make you due sacrifice and offerings of wrought gold.  Have mercy upon me.”

And Ulysses said, “I am no god, why should you take me for one?  I am your father, on whose account you grieve and suffer so much at the hands of lawless men.”

As he spoke he kissed his son, and a tear fell from his cheek on to the ground, for he had restrained all tears till now.  But Telemachus could not yet believe that it was his father, and said: 

“You are not my father, but some god is flattering me with vain hopes that I may grieve the more hereafter; no mortal man could of himself contrive to do as you have been doing, and make yourself old and young at a moment’s notice, unless a god were with him.  A second ago you were old and all in rags, and now you are like some god come down from heaven.”

Ulysses answered, “Telemachus, you ought not to be so immeasurably astonished at my being really here.  There is no other Ulysses who will come hereafter.  Such as I am, it is I, who after long wandering and much hardship have got home in the twentieth year to my own country.  What you wonder at is the work of the redoubtable goddess Minerva, who does with me whatever she will, for she can do what she pleases.  At one moment she makes me like a beggar, and the next I am a young man with good clothes on my back; it is an easy matter for the gods who live in heaven to make any man look either rich or poor.”