Penelope and Pheido

PHEIDO.

Ha! what strange stories these old people tell!
Will you believe me, gracious lady queen?
Yesterday-eve behind this figtree sate
Melantheus and that idler Iros, he
Who breaks more bread than the best workman

earns,
And seem'd contending which should lie the most.

PENELOPE.
What did they talk about?
PHEIDO.

Why, they discourst
About our lord, be sure, as all men do.
Iros, who scratcht his shoulder, said he tried
To shirk the ships that were afloat for Troy.
I could well-nigh have smitten him, but thought
So wise a man, with such a queen for wife.
So beautiful, so provident of corn
And oil and wine, must suddenly have lost
His wits, by sun-stroke, or magician's wand
Or witches charm, to leave her willingly.

PENELOPE.

Willingly not, but duteously; the Gods
Urged him, and he obey'd: the chiefs of Greece
Knew that they wanted much his prudent mind,
Kings tho they were, to counsel them aright.
There was no folly in their thinking so.
Brave as he was, he would have staid at home,
But Hellas rose in arms to punish fraud
And rapine. When he left me, tears he shed,
Which he had never done but on that day
When on his mother's breast he cried for milk
And milk was there no longer. He was born
For glory.

PHEIDO.
O sweet mistress! what is that?
PENELOPE.
To carry arms, and quell thereby the proud.
PHEIDO.

Here are no robbers in these blessed realms.
Here in our Ithaca no boars, no wolves
No dragons: glory then is gone abroad,
Unless it may be found in cestuses.

PENELOPE.

But there are monarks, far across the sea,
Proud monarks, and they boast of sons as proud,
Who steal the wives of those who trusted them.
And purple robes therewith and treasured gold
And silver.

PHEIDO.

May the Gods guide safely home
Our master! Will he bring back purple robes.
Silver, and gold? he should have more than half.
But O those purple robes! how they will suit

The lovely shoulders of our gracious queen.
Do thou, Poseidon, let them come unhurt
Upon our shores; for thy salt waves might wash
The colour out; chide them, forbid them thou!
Pray to him, O sweet lady! for your prayers
Will reach him sooner than your handmaid's could;
Beside, the wealthy always can prevail
With gifts; and upon Neritos are kids
And goats in plenty, easy to be caught
If they know Gods are waiting.
PENELOPE.

We will think
About this matter; but Laertes first
Must be consulted: he knows every kid
And goat upon the rocks there.

Now lay by
The yarn, and leave this figtree for yon vines,
Where I can trust thee better than the rest
Of all my maidens; for thy truthful tongue
Never laid blame upon the wasp when gaps
I found among the bunches; go, and cull
The ripest; thou shalt have two figs for each.

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PHEIDO.
All the blue figs lie slit upon the wall
For winter use, and little lizards keep,
With never-closing eye and panting heart,
Watch and ward over them against the flies
And ants, and hold those fast with viscous tongue,

Sharp-pointed, swiftly out and swiftly in.
The green and yellow are ungathered yet
Mostly. Telemakos is tall enough
To help me up with hand below my heel.
And shoulder close against the trunk applied.

PENELOPE.

Telemakos plies other work: he mends
The nets to catch those busy birds that hang
Tail downward and inflict sad wounds on fig.

Away! but come back soon, and then for woof.
Idleness ill befits a royal house:
The husbandman, who labors hard may rest
In the midday, and thereby shorten night.