needles
olive tree
it was built around a tree.
Odysseus built his and his wife's bed and did so around an olive tree to symbolize the strength of their marriage.
Odysseus built his bed and his entire house around the trunk of an ancient tree. It was penelopies test of Odysseus' true idenity when she asked her servents to bring the bed to them
With an olive tree
saying that his bed is in the hall.
it was built around a tree.
Penelope tells Eurycleia to move the bed, Odysseus responds by saying that is impossible because he has made the bed around the Olive tree.
Because she tests him with moving the huge bed in their chamber, which coincidentaly was made by Odysseus before his troubles. Odysseus therefore knows that the bed is made out of the huge olive tree that grows within the house.
Odysseus tells her how their bed was made, and she knows no on else could know how the bed was made.
Rather than directly testing Odysseus and questioning him, Penelope asks her maid Eurycleia to move the great bed that Odysseus himself made with his own hands. This is a clever way of testing Odysseus because the bed was made in a way that would be near impossible to move and Odysseus finds Penelopes words 'a knife in [his] heart' The bed was made by using the trunk of an olive tree as the first bedpost, the tree was still rooted to the ground so Odysseus claims that even a man in his prime wouldn't be able to move the bed. Odysseus and Penelope are the only people to know how the bed was created so Odysseus has just give proof that he truly is who he says he is.
The secret that reveals Odysseus is that the marriage bed is made from live olive roots. This convinces Penelope.
He tells her about their bed and how its made out of the olive tree and immovable. Only something that Odysseus and her knew.
Penelope tests Odysseus by asking him about their bed, which only the true Odysseus would know was built inside a living olive tree. This test confirms his identity to Penelope and proves that he is her husband returned after a long absence.
Penelope was talking to Odysseus and told her maid to move Odysseus' bed so this beggar (odysseus) could stay the night. (Odysseus' bed was made from an oak tree and would be almost impossible to move.) Therefore, Odysseus got really mad and thought she was living with another man who was very strong and could move it. Penelope then knew for sure that this was Odysseus.
Odysseus convinces Penelope that he is her husband by revealing the secret detail of their bed, that he alone knows. This detail is that their bed was constructed by Odysseus himself and cannot be moved as one of its legs is made from a living olive tree. This intimate knowledge proves to Penelope that it is indeed her husband Odysseus returned to her.
Because he revealed their secret.
Odysseus built his and his wife's bed and did so around an olive tree to symbolize the strength of their marriage.