Odyssey 1.436 · Book 1, lines 436–438
He undresses, and hands her his tunic
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ὤιξεν δὲ θύρας θαλάμου πύκα ποιητοῖο, ἕζετο δʼ ἐν λέκτρῳ, μαλακὸν δʼ ἔκδυνε χιτῶνα· καὶ τὸν μὲν γραίης πυκιμηδέος ἔμβαλε χερσίν.
He opened the doors of the well-built chamber, sat down on the bed, and took off his soft tunic; and this he put into the hands of the shrewd old woman.
Word by word
The setting
Alone in his chamber, Telemachus prepares for sleep, the nurse still attending him.
A note on this passage
Bedtime, told step by careful step: he opens the door, sits, pulls off his tunic, and hands it to the waiting nurse. Nothing happens; the poem is simply watching a boy get ready for sleep.
The care is the meaning. Homer gives a routine undressing the same measured attention he gives an arming-scene, and lets two words rhyme under it: the chamber is πύκα (‘closely, soundly’) built, and the old woman is πυκιμηδής (‘close-counselled, shrewd’) — the same root of density and soundness laid on the room and on her mind. The house that shelters him is well-made, and so is the woman in it.
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