Then the doors are thrown open, and the faithless maids are compelled to remove the corpses and purify the room, before they are hanged! _Book XXIII._ The old nurse has meantime had the privilege of announcing Ulysses' safe return to his faithful retainers, and last of all to the sleeping Penelope.

Unable to credit such tidings,--although the nurse assures her she has seen his scar,--Penelope imagines the suitors must have been slain by some god who has come to her rescue.
She decides, therefore, to go down and congratulate her son upon being rid of those who preyed upon his wealth.

Seeing she does not immediately fall upon his father's neck, Telemachus hotly reproaches her, but she rejoins she must have some proof of the stranger's identity and is evidently repelled by his unprepossessing appearance.
Hearing this, Ulysses suggests that all present purify themselves, don fresh garments, and partake of a feast, enlivened by the songs of their bard.

While he is attended by the old nurse, Minerva sheds upon him such grace that, when he reappears, looking like a god, he dares reproach Penelope for not recognizing him.

Then, hearing her order that his bed be removed to the portico, he hotly demands who cut down the tree which formed one of its posts?
Because this fact is known only to Penelope and to the builder of the bed, she now falls upon Ulysses' neck, begging his pardon.