Athena puts the bow contest in Penelope's mind. Penelope takes the store-room key of bronze with an ivory handle, sits with Odysseus's bow on her knees, weeps, and carries it to the cloister. The bow was a keepsake from Iphitus, left at home when he sailed for Troy. She tells the suitors that whoever strings it and sends an arrow through twelve axes will win her, though she will remember this house in her dreams. Eumaeus and Philoetius weep when they see it. Antinous calls them country louts and says there is not a man among them such as Odysseus, while the narrator notes that he will be first to taste those arrows.
Telemachus sets the twelve axes in a straight groove and tugs the bow three times. On the fourth try he would have strung it. Odysseus signs him to stop. He yields, saying he is too young. Leiodes, the suitors' priest who hated their deeds, fails first and warns that this bow will take the life and soul out of many a chief. Antinous rebukes him and has Melanthius warm the bow and grease it with a ball of lard. Still no one can bend it. Antinous and Eurymachus, the ringleaders, have not yet made their trial.
Outside the gates Odysseus asks the two herdsmen which side they would take if a god brought their master home. Both pray for his return. He shows the boar scar from Parnassus, promises wives and holdings, and assigns the work: Eumaeus must place the bow in his hands and shut the women in; Philoetius must bind the outer gates with the ship's cable. They re-enter separately. Eurymachus still cannot string it and grieves more for the disgrace than for the marriage. Antinous wants to postpone until Apollo's feast. The beggar asks for a turn. Antinous threatens to ship him to king Echetus, who cuts off ears and nostrils. Penelope says a beggar will not take her home. Telemachus sends her upstairs, claims the bow as a man's matter, and his.
The suitors shout Eumaeus down. Telemachus threatens to pelt him with stones. They laugh, which lets the swineherd put the bow in Odysseus's hands. Euryclea locks the women. Philoetius makes the outer gates fast. Odysseus turns the bow every way, looking for worm in the horns, then strings it as a bard strings a lyre. The string sings like a swallow. Zeus thunders. Still seated, he sends one arrow through every axe into the outer courtyard. He tells Telemachus his guest has not disgraced him. He signs with his eyebrows. Telemachus stands armed beside his father's seat.
Coming Up in Chapter 22
Odysseus tears off his rags and shoots Antinous through the throat while the gold cup is still in his hands. The walls are bare of spears, Eurymachus will try to buy his life, and father and son will have to hold a doorway against a whole town.
