The Test of the Marriage Bed — The Odyssey

Euryclea ran upstairs laughing to tell Penelope that Odysseus had come home and killed the suitors. Penelope thought the nurse was mad and refused to believe her. Even when Euryclea described the blood in the hall and the scar she had found while washing the beggar's feet, Penelope still feared it might be a trick.

Penelope went downstairs and sat across from the ragged stranger without recognizing him. Telemachus scolded her for staying distant, but she said they shared private signs that no one else knew. She tested him by ordering his bed moved outside, and Odysseus angrily described how he built their marriage bed around a living olive tree that could never be moved. Only then did she embrace him and weep.

Athena held back dawn so they could talk through the night. Odysseus told Penelope about Teiresias's prophecy: he must travel inland carrying an oar until he reaches people who have never heard of the sea. He also retold his whole journey, from the Cyclops through Calypso to the Phaeacians. In the morning he ordered music and dancing so neighbors would think it was a wedding, then left town with Telemachus and the loyal servants under Athena's cover.