Eurycleia+1

An Unexpected Encounter
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media type="file" key="eurycle1.mp3"

//Soft musical opening// EURYCLEIA: 	My name is Eurycleia. I have been the nurse in the house of the king for longer than I can remember. And on this day, a man entered our halls, bearing news of Odysseus. He is a strange man, to be sure, but all are welcome in the house of the king. The vile suitors have much abused this policy. Hearing this stranger speak of the great Odysseus brought about a wave of fresh depression. For twenty years the man has roamed the seas and all have lost hope of his return. I have not. I have enough faith in the dear man for his homecoming. But how his wife weeps! Hours spent with tears staining her face, washing out her beauty. Her control with this man was impressive and admirable, though. Penelope’s voice broke my stupor. “Up with you now, my good old Eurycleia, come and wash your master’s...equal in years. Odysseus must have feet and hands like his by now – hardship can age a person overnight.” I hear a ringing in my ears while my eyesight turns blurry from who knows what. My eyes are blinking furiously to check that they are not deceiving me as they are so prone to do. Could it truly be my master? The scar tells me everything. The scar he received as a boy at Parnassus. I’d never seen another like it in my life. It had to be Odysseus. My hand is losing its grip on his foot and it falls to the floor, knocking the basin over and spilling the water all over the floor. //SFX: basin falling and water sloshing// I don’t care – Odysseus is home. I have never been happier in my life. Twenty years I have waited for this day – although this is not what I expected. My mind instantly travels to the suitors, how he allowed them to treat him so! It was undignified. But Odysseus is home! “Yes, yes! You are Odysseus!” Then I think of Penelope. She must know! Oh how she has suffered. I seek her out with my eyes but she does not see me! It is infuriating. I feel a warm hand grasp my throat. Then great Odysseus whispers in my ear...|||| “Nurse, you want to kill me? I’m home, at last. But, quiet! Not a word to anyone in the house. Or else, I warn you, if a god beats down these brazen suitors at my hands, I will not spare you when I kill the other women in the house.” His temperament has not changed – he often spoke empty threats in his youth. “Child, what nonsense you let slip through your teeth! You know me – I’m stubborn, never give an inch. One more thing. I’ll report in full of the women in your house: who are disloyal to you, who are guiltless.” It always takes reassurance and a bit of a bribe to sway Odysseus, but in these words I was true. I would seek out the mutinous so justice could be served. “A waste of breath. I’ll judge each one myself. Just be quiet. Leave the rest to the gods.” With that I take my leave, to clean up the mess. But of chores I do not care – Odysseus is home! //Soft musical closing//
 * I hardly remember what I said next. My tears streamed down my eyes as I sang the king’s praises. Then I looked into the man’s face – how similar it was to Odysseus’. I was rather confused. Perhaps I was only imagining the resemblance – that much was possible. I showed him down the hall as I gathered the basin for the man. I mixed the cold with the warm and reached for his foot.