Summary14

Odysseus finds Eumaios (the swineherd) outside his hut. Although Eumaios doesn’t recognize the withered traveler as his master, he invites him inside. There Odysseus has a meal of pork and listens as Eumaios praises the memory of his former master, whom he fears is lost for good, and talk bad about his new masters, the suitors. Odysseus predicts that Eumaios will see his master again very soon, but Eumaios will hear none of it—he has met too many beggars looking for a handout from Penelope in return for fabricated news of Odysseus. Still, Eumaios likes his guest. He puts him up for the night and even lets him borrow a cloak to keep out the cold. When Eumaios asks Odysseus about his origins, Odysseus lies that he is from Krete. He fought with Odysseus at Troy and made it home safely, he claims, but a trip that he made later to Egypt went awry, and he was reduced to poverty. It was during this trip, he says, that he heard that Odysseus was still alive.