![[The Odyssey]](odtit.gif)
The Beggar in the Palace
Yes - the Suitors offered a goat's stomach stuffed with fat and blood
to the winner in the scrap between you and the tramp Irus.
You won a haggis! Your first day "home" is very hard, what with Irus, Melantho
and the Suitors all trying to humiliate you; but Penelope takes pity on
you, and has your old nurse Eurycleia wash your feet (there's a nasty moment
when Eurycleia recognises your old scar - but you make her swear to keep
quiet). 
Penelope
listens to your (fictitious) tales, and finally confides in you. She tells
of her dream - a flock of geese killed by an eagle. She believes it's a
false dream (from the Gate of Ivory) ; but in fact, as you could have told
her, it is a true dream from the Gate of Burnished Horn.
She suggests settling the question of who she'll marry out of the
Suitors by holding a competition. She will give herself to whoever can
string the Great Bow of Odysseus (secretly hoping that nobody will be
able to match her husband's strength).