Athena prompts Penelope to set the contest. Penelope takes a bronze key and goes to the innermost storeroom, where Odysseus's treasures are kept. There hang the great bow and a quiver full of arrows, gifts from Iphitus, whom Odysseus met as a young man in Messene while on a mission to recover stolen sheep. Iphitus had given the bow, which had belonged to his father Eurytus, and Odysseus gave him a sword and spear in return, but they never met again, because Heracles killed Iphitus when he was a guest in his home. Odysseus never took the bow to Troy, but kept it at home as a memento. Penelope takes the bow from its peg, weeps over it, and carries it down to the hall.
Penelope announces the contest: whoever can string the bow most easily and shoot an arrow through all twelve axes will be her husband, and she will leave the house where she has lived since her marriage. Eumaeus and Philoetius weep at the sight of the bow, and Antinous scolds them. Telemachus then digs a trench, sets the axes in a straight line, and stamps the earth around them. He tries to string the bow himself three times and almost succeeds on the fourth try, but Odysseus signals him to stop. Telemachus pretends that he is too weak and young, and sets down the bow.
The suitors take turns in order from left to right. Leodes, a soothsayer who hated the suitors' violence, goes first, but he cannot bend the bow and predicts that it will deprive many of life. Antinous rebukes him and orders Melanthius to light a fire and bring a large cake of fat so that the suitors can warm and soften the bow. Even so, one after another fails to string it. Only Antinous and Eurymachus, the strongest, have not yet tried.
Meanwhile Odysseus follows Eumaeus and Philoetius outside and asks them whether they would fight for Odysseus if a god brought him back. Both swear they would. Odysseus reveals himself and shows them the scar on his leg, and they throw their arms around him in tears. He promises them wives, property, and houses next to his own, and that they will be like brothers to Telemachus. He gives them instructions: Eumaeus must bring him the bow and tell the women to lock the doors of their quarters and stay inside whatever they hear, and Philoetius must bar the courtyard gate. Back in the hall, Eurymachus tries to string the bow and fails, lamenting the shame it will bring them. Antinous suggests that they postpone the contest, since it is a festival of Apollo the archer, and try again the next day after sacrifices.
The beggar then asks to try the bow, just to see if his old strength remains. The suitors are furious, and Antinous threatens him, but Penelope says it is improper to deny a guest, and promises the stranger clothes and a spear if he succeeds — certainly not her hand. Telemachus asserts his authority over the bow and sends his mother to her room, where she weeps until Athena gives her sleep. Eumaeus hesitates when the suitors shout threats, but Telemachus orders him to carry the bow to the beggar. Eurycleia locks the women's doors and Philoetius ties the courtyard gate shut. Odysseus examines the bow carefully, turning it to check for worm damage while the suitors mock him. Then, as easily as a skilled musician strings a lyre, he bends and strings it, and plucks the string, which sings like a swallow. Zeus thunders. Odysseus picks up an arrow and, without rising from his stool, shoots it straight through the handle-holes of all twelve axes. He tells Telemachus that the stranger has not shamed him, and his son takes up his spear and stands beside him, armed in bronze.
