Odysseus drew his purple cloak over his head and wept. Whenever the bard paused he wiped his tears and poured a drink-offering; when the song resumed he covered his face again. Only Alcinous beside him noticed. The king stopped the music and led them out to the games, so the guest might tell his friends at home how the Phaeacians boxed, wrestled, jumped, and ran.
Pontonous set Demodocus a silver-studded chair midmost of the guests, hung the clear-toned lyre above his head, and placed a basket and a cup of wine beside him. Odysseus cut him a rich portion of meat in honor.
The foot race came first; Clytoneus took it. Epeius won the boxing. Wrestling went to Euryalus. Broad Amphialus leaped farthest. Elatreus threw the discus best. Then Laodamas son of Alcinous, finest in looks of all, urged the stranger to try some contest — a man wins lasting honor from the games as long as he lives.
Odysseus said his mind was on cares, not contests. He had suffered enough and only wanted passage home. Euryalus sneered that the guest looked like a trader hugging his cargo, not an athlete. Odysseus answered hard: the gods do not give all gifts to one man — looks, wits, and speech fall differently. Euryalus’s words were ugly; Odysseus’s form, he said, was not contemptible.
He said that in spear-cast he could throw as far as another shot with an arrow, but in the foot race alone he feared a Phaeacian might outstrip him, for he had been broken in many waters and his limbs were loosened.
Only Alcinous, sitting near, heard the stranger groan. He stopped the bard and led the company out to the games, so the guest might tell his friends at home how far the Phaeacians surpassed others in boxing, wrestling, jumping, and running.
He sprang up still in his cloak, seized a discus heavier than the Phaeacians used, and hurled it past all their marks. Athena in a man’s shape called the throw far beyond the rest. Odysseus laughed and offered to box, wrestle, or race any man there except Laodamas — he would not challenge his host’s son. In archery and spear-work, he said, he feared few living men; only Philoctetes had topped him with the bow at Troy.