"Stranger," his father answered, weeping softly,
"the land you’ve reached is the very one you’re after,
true, but it’s in the grip of reckless, lawless men.
And as for the gifts you showered on your guest,
you gave them all for nothing.
But if you’d found him alive, here in Ithaca,
he would have replied in kind, with gift for gift,
and entertained you warmly before he sent you off.
That’s the old custom, when one has led the way."
– Homer
The Odyssey, Book 24, lines 310-318. Laertes doesn’t recognize the "stranger" as his son Odysseus. He tells him how he has lost faith in Ithaca, since it had come into the grip of the lawless suitors. Laertes’ love of and loyalty to Odysseus come across forcefully when he speaks warmly about his son’s kindness and hospitality to strangers.