I went up into the high hills to find where the swineherd lived. This man was the most loyal worker of Odysseus, and he lived with his herds in a little shack that he built himself. When Odysseus got there, the swineherd was making himself some sandals from oxhide, but I couldn't get to him because of the wolf-like guard dogs who would've torn me to pieces if I hadn't sat down and the swineherd had noticed me. He scattered the dogs and invited me, the beggar, into his house and I thanked him graciously. To this he answered a short story about how his master Odysseus was one of the greatest men in the world, and so much nicer than the suitors are. With this told, he slaughtered to small pigs and roasted them, giving one to me and one for himself, he then filled up wine bowls for both of us, and we talked over this small, but amazing lunch. He told me more about how amazing Odysseus was and how much he missed him, and I tried to tell him that Odysseus (I) was alive, but so many people had come supposedly bearing news of Odysseus, but they all ended up lying just to get great food and shelter. The swineherd then asked me to tell where I was from, and I made up a huge story about "myself" in which I went through many troubles, the loss of my crew and much greed from them, not being near my son and wife, etc. and as I told it, I realised that the story was my own, just with different actors playing the parts. We managed to talk so long past lunch that by the time we were finished, it was dinner time, and the swineherd's four helpers had started to herd up the pigs into their pens and they trudged in for dinner. Then the swineherd had them kill the biggest and juiciest pig just for me. They cut off the parts for the gods and burnt them, thanking the gods and praying for the safe homecoming of Odysseus. Once all the sacrificing and praying was done, he put the best part of the pig infront of me, since I was the guest, and I thanked him. Then we talked more, and I told a story in which "Odysseus" gave me a cloal because I was cold (the whole story was a hint to them to give me a cloak for I would need one to travel around in these rags without freezing), and when I was done, the swineherd told me that I could sleep over and have some of the blankets while I slept, but since they were very poor, they only had one set of clothes and therefore had no cloak to spare. With this he rose and laid out a bed of skins infront of the fire for me, and I lay down with the soft blanket over me. Everyone went to sleep except the swineherd, who went outside with his huge cloak to guard him against the wind, and slept with the very swine he guarded, and it warmed my heart to have such a hard working man under my wing.
Picture from: http://acharlie.tripod.com/shepherd.html
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