Then said the false Mentes: "Now may the gods help thee! Thou art
indeed in sore need of Ulysses. But now hearken to my counsel.
First call an assembly of the people. Bid the suitors go back,
each man to his home; and as for thy mother, if she be moved to
wed, let her return to her father's house, that her kinsfolk may
furnish a wedding feast, and prepare gifts such as a well-beloved
daughter should have. Afterwards do thou fit up a ship with twenty
oars, and go, inquire concerning thy father; perhaps some man may
give thee tidings of him; or, may be, thou wilt hear a voice from
Zeus concerning him. Go to Pylos first, and afterwards to Sparta,
where Menelaus [Footnote: Me-ne-la'-us.] dwelleth, who of all the
Greeks came back the last to his home. If thou shouldest hear that
he is dead, then come back hither, and raise a mound for him, and
give thy mother to a husband. And when thou hast made an end of
all these things, then plan how thou mayest slay the suitors by
force or craft, for it is time for thee to have the thoughts of a
man."

Then said Telemachus: "Thou speakest these things out of a
friendly heart, as a father might speak to his son, nor will I
ever forget them. But now, I pray thee, abide here for a space,
that I may give thee a goodly gift, such as friends give to
friends, to be an heirloom in thy house."

But the false Mentes said, "Keep me no longer, for I am eager to
depart; give me thy gift when I shall return."

So the goddess departed; like to an eagle of the sea was she as
she flew. And Telemachus knew her to be a goddess as she went.