I sent Eurykleia to get Penelope, who was angry to have been woken from the sweetest sleep she'd had in many years. And Eurykleia told her to come downstairs because I was there waiting for her, but she just denied this fact, telling Eurykleia that it was one of the meanest things she could do to her. When Eurykleia finally persuaded her to come downstairs, I was sitting by a column, and we just stared at each other, Penelope not showing any feeling so as not to be hurt again by a fraud. Telemakhos asked her why she didn't go up and greet her husband after seeing him after 20 years; and she replied that she was still weary, but they'd know each other if it was truly him. I told Telemakhos to leave her in peace because we now had to worry about the families of the slain suitors coming to kill us. I thought for a while, then decided on a plan: I sent the remaining, faithful, maids to get dressed in their prettiest dancing clothes and for the men to bathe. We'd have a party with music, and the hall would sound merry so that any passer-by would think we were celebrating a wedding, and that no death was near. And then before any of the mourning families could come kill us, we'd slip away to the woods. So everyone got dressed, and we danced all night to the harper's music. After the dancing, I asked Eurykleia to set up a bed. Penelope told her to move the bed I had made out of the trunk of the olive tree that this house was built around, and I got really angry, talking about its importance and the work that went into it. This seemed proof enough to Penelope that I was indeed Odysseus. she ran up to me and hugged and kissed me, crying the whole time. We had the maids make our bed, and after we got re-aquainted, we spent the rest of the night telling each other the stories of the past 20 years. I also told her about the prophecy I was given in the underworld, and when we were done, we finally slept. In the morning we awoke, having had the best nights sleep in ages. I told all the women to lock themselves in the upper floors of the house and not open to anyone, while we went to find my father at his orchard, covered in a cloud of smoke by Athena...
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