Odyssey 19.361-475 洗腳?

洗腳? 老奶媽答應Penelope，幫眼前這位可憐的乞丐洗腳，一個簡單的工作，一個小小的動作，卻拉出許多前因後果，幾分鐘的洗腳，拉長，打開幾十年的故事。

   一出場我們就見證老奶媽慈悲的心，願意幫一位歷經風霜的乞丐洗腳，但，老奶媽似乎在乞丐的容貌中瞥見主人Odysseus的影子:

http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0135%3Abook%3D19%3Acard%3D361

πολλοὶ δὴ ξεῖνοι ταλαπείριοι ἐνθάδ᾽ ἵκοντο,

ἀλλ᾽ οὔ πώ τινά φημι ἐοικότα ὧδε ἰδέσθαι

ὡς σὺ δέμας φωνήν τε πόδας τ᾽ Ὀδυσῆϊ ἔοικας. (Odyssey 19. 279-81)

Many worn-out strangers

have come here, but none of them, I tell you,

 was so like him to look at—your stature,

voice, and feet are all just like Odysseus.

《奧德賽》多次用ταλαπείριος (one who has suffered much, much-suffering)修飾Odysseus，這兒有修飾乞丐，似乎也是一種共通點，更巧的是，乞丐的身材、聲音、與腳都和Odysseus十分相像。當然，聰明的Odysseus為了不被識破，說道，看過他們「兩個」的人，都說他們長得很像。這一關勉強通過!

   當老奶媽拿出盆子，注入水，就要開始幫他洗腳，Odysseus有不祥的預感，因為他腳上的疤痕(οὐλή)，一個無法掩飾的符號，將洩漏他的真實身分:

ὣς ἄρ᾽ ἔφη, γρηῢς δὲ λέβηθ᾽ ἕλε παμφανόωντα

τοῦ πόδας ἐξαπένιζεν, ὕδωρ δ᾽ ἐνεχεύατο πουλὺ

ψυχρόν, ἔπειτα δὲ θερμὸν ἐπήφυσεν. αὐτὰρ Ὀδυσσεὺς

ἷζεν ἐπ᾽ ἐσχαρόφιν, ποτὶ δὲ σκότον ἐτράπετ᾽ αἶψα:

αὐτίκα γὰρ κατὰ θυμὸν ὀΐσατο, μή ἑ λαβοῦσα

οὐλὴν ἀμφράσσαιτο καὶ ἀμφαδὰ ἔργα γένοιτο.

νίζε δ᾽ ἄρ᾽ ἆσσον ἰοῦσα ἄναχθ᾽ ἑόν: αὐτίκα δ᾽ ἔγνω

οὐλήν, τήν ποτέ μιν σῦς ἤλασε λευκῷ ὀδόντι

Παρνησόνδ᾽ ἐλθόντα μετ᾽ Αὐτόλυκόν τε καὶ υἷας,

μητρὸς ἑῆς πάτερ᾽ ἐσθλόν, ὃς ἀνθρώπους ἐκέκαστο

κλεπτοσύνῃ θ᾽ ὅρκῳ τε (Odyssey 19. 386-96)

After these words from Odysseus,

the old woman took the shining bowl to wash his feet.

She poured in plenty of cold water and added

warmer water to it. Odysseus then sat down

some distance from the hearth and quickly turned around

towards the darkness. For suddenly in his heart

he was afraid that, when she touched him, she might see 

a scar he had, and then the truth would be revealed.

She came up and began to wash her master.

She recognized the scar immediately, a wound

a boar’s white tusk had given him many years ago,

when he’d gone to Parnassus, making a visit

to Autolycus, his mother's splendid father,

and his sons. That man could surpass all others

in thievery and swearing.

這幾行傷疤 (οὐλή)就出現兩次，第一次是 Odysseus心中猜想，第二次是老奶媽明亮的雙眼注視的焦距。如果拍攝電影，特寫可以放在這野豬的白齒咬傷的痕跡，然侯鏡頭慢慢拉長，時空拉到Odysseus小時候到外公家玩的場景。

以下圖片與資料出處: http://www.utexas.edu/courses/mythmoore/imagefiles19/eurycleia.html

Detail of an Attic Red-figure skyphos, 440 BC, from Chiusi, by the Penelope Painter. Washing of Odysseus' feet.