Penelope weaves the funeral shroud for Laertes, Odysseus’s elderly father. She announces that she will choose one of the suitors after completing the burial cloth, using the task to postpone remarriage.
During Odysseus’s long absence, more than a hundred suitors occupy his palace and pressure Penelope to select a new husband. Rather than reject them openly and risk conflict, she presents her delay as a duty to Laertes: a proper shroud must be ready when he dies.
Penelope weaves during the day but secretly unravels the work at night. According to the usual account, she maintains this deception for three years, until a maidservant reveals it to the suitors. They then force her to finish the shroud and continue demanding a decision.
The episode establishes Penelope as clever as well as loyal. It is often confused with a shroud for Odysseus himself, but the intended recipient is his father Laertes. Later, Penelope delays the suitors again through the contest involving Odysseus’s bow.