The Test Of The Great Bow

As I walked into my Kingdom, receiving crude remarks from the evil suitors surrounding me, I walked to my son, now aware of my true identity, and prepared for our plan to kill off the suitors. As Penelope, who had accepted the fact that I must be dead, set up the first challenge for the men to face, the test of the great bow. She told the suitors, "Here is my lord Odysseus' hunting bow. Bend and string it if you can. Who sends an arrow through iron ax-helve sockets, twelve in line? I join my life with his, and leave this palace my home..." (pg. 937) As the challenge began, man after man, no one was able to pull the bow. As I went up for my turn, suitors laughed in my face and told me i could not do it. My dear Penelope insisted that I string the bow. With my son and my servant guarding all way out, I took my position, holding the bow comfortably in my arms. Athena swooped down from the heavens, giving me the appearance of a young lad. I pulled back on the bow's string and shot. I shot the arrow smoothly through the air and, [My] arrow hit [Antinous] under the chin and punched up to the feathers through his throat. Backward and down he went, letting the cup fall from his shocked hand. Like pipes his nostrils jetted crimson runnels, a river of mortal red. (pg. 941) And as the war of the suitors and I began, the doors out were closed and I shot every single one of them, till there were no men after my Penelope.