Menelaus' queen is the same Helen whose abduction from Sparta caused the Trojan War. Foreshadowing Odysseus' disguise when he returns to Ithaca, Helen recalls how he scarred his body and donned slave's clothing in order to slip into Troy under the guise of a beggar. Still with the Trojans at that time, she alone suspected that the beggar was a spy; but she protected his secret until he was safely gone. Menelaus recalls the crafty Odysseus' legendary ruse of the Trojan horse that led to the defeat of Troy.
Although thrilled to hear these stories, Telemachus is more encouraged by Menelaus' revelation, the next day, that Odysseus may yet live. In order to learn his own way home to Sparta, Menelaus, marooned in Egypt, had to trap Proteus, Poseidon's servant and a shape-shifter who can instantly turn himself into a serpent, panther, boar, tree, or even a torrent of water. Proteus' daughter, a sea-nymph, told Menelaus how to catch her father and get the truth from him. In addition to learning his own way home, Menelaus also learned that Odysseus was alive and a captive of Calypso on Ogygia.
