The Odyssey

            
             They talk about a poet asking for assistance in telling the story about a man who suffers hardships while trying to get back to his home.
             Odysseus is being held prisoner by Calypso, who wants to marry him. At a council of the .
             gods on Mt. Olympus, Athene votes for Odysseus' release. She goes down to help Telemachus. Back at Odysseus" house, everything is chaotic. .
             His wife, Penelope, is trying to get out of marrying courters who have come to marry her because everyone belives that Odysseus is dead. .
             Athene greets Telemachus who is in the form of one of Odysseus" friends, who apologizes for the condition of the house and asks for news of his father. Athene assures him that Odysseus is alive and advises him to go to Pylos and Sparta in search of Odysseus. She also asks him to call the Ithacan lords to an assembly in which he must ask the Gods if the suitors can leave.
             After Athene leaves, Penelope enters the hall, where a bard is singing about .
             the pitiful return of the Greeks from Troy. She asks him to stop, as it reminds her of Odysseus. But Telemachus sends her back to her chamber and he tells the suitors that the next day he might tell them all to leave. One of the suitors asks him who the visitor was. .
             Telemachus replies that the guest was Mentes, though he knows that it was really Athene in disguise. .
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             Book 2 .
             Telemachus calls the Greeks to an assembly. He complains about how the suitors are messing up his property. He asks them to leave although they refuse; instead, they .
             blame Penelope for deceiving them by false messages and hopes. Only a few people take Telemachus" side. The assembly breaks up without having reached a definite conclusion. Telemachus is disappointed but is encouraged once again by Athene, this time disguised as Mentor. She helps him to make arrangements in order to leave in a ship for Pylos. .
             He returns to his house for supplies, where he is mocked by the suitors and helped by his nurse.