At dawn, as Odysseus and Eumaeus prepare breakfast, the dogs, who usually bark at strangers, fawn around someone approaching. It is Telemachus. Eumaeus drops the bowls and runs to kiss him, weeping like a father welcoming his only son home after ten years away. Telemachus enters, and Odysseus courteously rises to give up his seat, but Telemachus tells him to stay where he is. Eumaeus explains that the stranger is a Cretan wanderer who has asked for his protection. Telemachus regrets that he cannot safely host the beggar at his house because of the suitors, but promises him clothes, sandals, and a sword. Odysseus remarks on how shocking it is that the suitors behave this way, asking whether Telemachus's people hate him or whether his brothers have failed him. Telemachus explains that his family has always had only one son in each generation, so he has no brothers to help.
Telemachus sends Eumaeus to the city to tell Penelope privately that he is safe. When Eumaeus leaves, Athena appears at the gate in the form of a tall, beautiful woman, visible only to Odysseus and the dogs, who whimper and slink away. She tells Odysseus that it is time to reveal himself to his son. Touching him with her golden wand, she restores his youth and strength, gives him a fresh cloak and tunic, and makes his beard dark again. When he comes back into the hut, Telemachus is terrified, thinking he is a god, and begs for mercy.
"I am no god, why should you take me for one?" Odysseus replies. "I am your father, on whose account you grieve and suffer so much at the hands of lawless men." Telemachus cannot believe it at first. He says no mortal could transform himself like that, and Odysseus explains that it was Athena's doing. Then Telemachus throws his arms around his father, and they weep together loudly, like sea eagles or vultures whose young have been stolen by farmers before they could fly. They might have wept until sunset if Telemachus had not asked how his father came home. Odysseus tells him briefly about the Phaeacians and the treasure hidden in the cave.
Then they plan. Telemachus warns that the suitors are many — fifty-two from Dulichium, twenty-four from Same, twenty from Zacynthus, and twelve from Ithaca, plus a herald, a bard, and servants — far too many for two men. Odysseus answers that Athena and Zeus will fight on their side. He tells Telemachus to go home in the morning and wait. Odysseus will come later disguised as a beggar, and Telemachus must endure any insults the suitors give him without revealing anything. When Odysseus gives the signal, Telemachus must remove the weapons from the hall, leaving only two swords, two spears, and two shields for themselves. Above all, no one — not Laertes, not Eumaeus, not even Penelope — must know that Odysseus has returned.
In the city, the news of Telemachus's safe return reaches the palace, and the suitors' ambush ship returns empty-handed. Antinous proposes that they kill Telemachus before he can turn the people against them, either in the countryside or on the road. But Amphinomus, the most decent of the suitors, says he would not kill a prince unless the gods approved, and the suitors agree to wait. Penelope, who has learned of the plot from the herald Medon, comes down to the hall and rebukes Antinous, reminding him that Odysseus once saved his father's life when the people wanted to kill him. Eurymachus smoothly promises that no one will harm Telemachus while he lives — though secretly he is planning the prince's death. That evening, Eumaeus returns to the hut, and Athena again turns Odysseus into an old beggar so the swineherd will not recognize him.
Quoted lines are from Samuel Butler’s 1900 prose translation (Project Gutenberg #1727).
