"I mean to announce a contest with those axes,
the ones he would often line up here inside the hall,
twelve in a straight unbroken row like blocks to shore a keel,
then stand well back and whip an arrow through the lot.
Now I will bring them on as a trial for my suitors.
The hand that can string the bow with greatest ease,
that shoots an arrow clean through all twelve axes –
he’s the man I follow."
– Homer
The Odyssey, Book 19, lines 644-651. Penelope tells the visiting beggar of the bow contest that she intends to hold for the suitors to compete for her hand in marriage. This shows her fearlessness and courage, as she tries to hold onto her faith that no man except her husband can meet the challenge to string Odysseus’ bow. Penelope, who suspects the beggar to be Odysseus in disguise, is a match for her husband in intelligence and cunning.