The palace in Sparta was dazzling. Bronze and silver and ivory shone from the walls, and Telemachus whispered, is the hall of Zeus like this?
A wedding feast was under way in the palace that day. The king was sending off a son and a daughter at once, and the gatekeeper asked whether to let these travelers in.
The king rebuked the gatekeeper. “We too got this far on the hospitality of others.” So the two strangers were seated in the place of honor.