what does the narrative provide?

• a bridge between the fantastical and the real world
• an opportunity for the flashback
• a contrast with the Suitors
• echoes of family life at the palace in Ithaca
• contrast with other episodes, e.g. the meeting with the daughter of Antiphates, and the Cyclopes
• opportunities for other stories: the bard tells 3, Odysseus retells the story to Arete to explain the cloak
• tension, through the creation of an audience who may not be friendly