💡 This is a chapter from The Wanderings of Odysseus, by C. Witt & F. Younghusband ← Go there to read the full book free online; it is also available in paperback and Kindle editions.
Telemachus now went up to his father and said, “I will go to the upper chamber where we put by the arms, and fetch down what we need;” and Odysseus replied, “Fetch them quickly, my son, before I have exhausted my arrows.” Telemachus immediately armed himself and the two herdsmen and brought down also weapons for his father, with which Odysseus equipped himself when he had shot all his arrows.
A very large number of the suitors were still alive, but they were at a disadvantage, for, while Odysseus, Telemachus, and the two herdsmen were completely armed, they had neither helmets, swords nor spears. Melanthius perceived this and said to them, “I will bring you weapons, as many as you need.” Through a narrow door between two of the pillars, there was a way up to the chamber in the upper storey where the arms had been stowed away the night before, and Melanthius, who had guessed where they were, soon brought down twelve shields and as many spears and helmets for the suitors.
Odysseus was greatly concerned when he saw the suitors arming themselves, and he said to Telemachus, “How have the suitors come by these arms? Either some faithless maidservant has brought them down from the upper chamber, or else it is Melanthius who is helping our enemies.”
“Oh, father!” replied Telemachus, “It is my fault, for I did but close the door of the chamber and did not lock it. But thou, Eumaeus, watch Melanthius to see if he climbs up thither again, for it must certainly be he who is helping the suitors.”
It was not long before Melanthius again disappeared from the hall, and the two herdsmen were sent after him. They found him in the chamber, turning over the weapons; he felt sure that his friends would conquer if they were properly armed, and was about to hurry down again with an old shield and helmet of the time of Laertes, when the two herdsmen, who had placed themselves unperceived one on each side of the door, seized him, as he was about to leave the room, by both his arms.
Thus taken by surprise, Melanthius trembled all over with fright and dropped his booty, and the two men dragged him back into the chamber. They tied his feet and hands behind his back with a tight rope and then strung him up to one of the beams of the roof. Eumaeus also mocked him and said, “Thou hast a very comfortable bed there, Melanthius, but forget not to rise at daybreak to bring the fattest of thy goats to thy beloved suitors.” Then the two herdsmen hastened back to the hall, leaving Melanthius hanging from the roof in great agony.