"Telemachus,"
the bright-eyed goddess Athena reassured him,
"some of the words you’ll find within yourself,
the rest some power will inspire you to say.
You least of all – I know –
were born and reared without the gods’ good will."
– Homer
The Odyssey, Book 3, lines 27-32. Athena offers words of encouragement to the shy Telemachus, who is concerned that his powers of speech and eloquence may not be up to addressing an older man of the stature of King Nestor. Telemachus wants to ask the king about his missing father Odysseus. The Odyssey, as well as being about the journey of the wandering Odysseus, is also a coming-of-age story about his son, growing up in a royal household without a father and trying to find his way in the world. That journey to manhood he is now learning to make – with Athena’s help.