Telemachus spoke with authority: Come — no one is more wronged than I if my mother leaves this house against her will. Suitors, here is your prize; no woman in Achaea matches her. No excuses; do not put off stringing the bow. I too would try. If I string it and shoot through the iron, I will not grieve if my mother leaves with another; I would be left able to take up my father's prizes. He threw off his purple cloak, leapt up, and set the axes in a straight trench, stamping the earth firm about them. Wonder took all who saw how orderly he set them, though he had never seen it done.
He stood on the threshold and tried the bow. Three times he made it tremble as he strained to draw it; three times he let it go. He would have strung it on the fourth try and sent an arrow through the iron — but Odysseus nodded and checked him. Telemachus said aloud: Shame — I must be a coward and a weakling, or else still too young and not yet firm in my hands. But come, you who are stronger than I — try the bow and end the contest. He set the bow against the doors and leaned the arrow against the fair door-ring, then sat down again.
Antinous ordered them to rise in order from left to right, beginning where the wine was poured. First rose Leiodes son of Oenops, their soothsayer, who always sat by the mixing-bowl furthest in. He alone hated their recklessness. He took the bow and arrow, stood on the threshold, and tried — but his soft unworn hands could not bend it. Friends, he said, I cannot bend it. Let some other take it. This bow will strip many princes of life; better to die than live on failing at what we gathered for. Some still hope to marry Penelope; when he has tried the bow and seen its force, let him woo some other Achaean woman. Penelope will marry whoever offers most and comes as fate's chosen.
Antinous rebuked him: Leiodes, what hard words — as if this bow would truly rob princes of life because you cannot string it. Your mother did not bear you for bow-work. But other proud suitors will string it soon. He called Melanthius the goatherd: Kindle a fire in the hall, and set a great seat with a fleece beside it. Bring a cake of fat, so we young men may warm and grease the bow and try it. Melanthius kindled the fire, set the seat, brought the fat. The young men warmed the bow and tried it — but they could not string it. They were far too weak.