Speak now, whate’er it be, fear not to tell:

Tell of thy sire, my son, though ’tis his death!

Tel. Now heaven forbid that word.

Pen.Alas, Telemachus;

What is our hope? Or if thou know of any,

Why art thou reticent of it?

Tel.Hearken, mother:

If thou wilt hear me, I will tell my story,

As time allows, stripped of all circumstance.

First sailed I then to Pylos, where I found