"My story – the whole truth – I’m glad to tell it all.
…I hail from Crete’s broad land, I’m proud to say,
and I am a rich man’s son. And many other sons
he brought up in his palace, born in wedlock,
sprung of his lawful wife. Unlike my mother.
She was a slave, a concubine he’d purchased, yes,
but he treated me on a par with all his true-born sons –
Castor, Hylax’ son. I’m proud to boast his blood, that man
revered like a god throughout all Crete those days,
for wealth, power and all his glorious offspring."
– Homer
The Odyssey, Book 14, lines 220, 228-236. When Eumaeus asks Odysseus to tell him his story, Odysseus promises him "the whole truth." But instead, Odysseus lies to his swineherd and concocts an incredible and fictitious tale about growing up in Crete and being the son of a concubine. Odysseus, who feels he can trust few people, is anxious to test the loyalty of Eumaeus. Having created a false identity and disguised as a beggar, he continues to conceal his real identity from the swineherd.