The hall was so silent, you could hear a feather touch the ground. Alkinoos answered, once more telling everyone that I should be sent off with great gifts, except this time I was to leave the next morning as I had asked. So when the morning came, we offered an oxen to the gods, feasted, and loaded up the ship for my departure. I said farewell to Alkinoos, and we left, me on a bed made for me, and the crew manning the oars, rowing us swiftly away from the nicest hosts I've stayed with so far on my journey. When dawn was nearing, we landed on Phorkys, a cove in the Ithaka region that houses Naiades. The crew lifted me in my bed (still sleeping) and put me on land, putting beside me my gifts from the princes of Phaiakia, under the lone olive tree, where Athena stood guarding me, and they rowed home. And up in Olympus, Poseidon moaned to Zeus, asking why I had managed to land in Ithaka with barely any troubles and with many more treasures than I had left Troy with; Zeus answered that Poseidon could do whatever vengeance he wanted, so Poseidon decided to crash the Phaiakian ship within sight of land so that the Phaiakians could see the ship go down. And as Alkinoos watched it go down, he realised that a prophecy that his father had told them had been fulfilled right there, and so as not to fulfill the second half, he sent many people to sacrifice 12 choice bulls to Poseidon while they all prayed. Meanwhile I awoke on my island while Pallas Athena poured a grey mist all around me, hiding me from the common person. And I wondered where I was, because I couldn't recognize any of my surroundings, and I thought that the Phaiakian crew had placed me in some godforsaken land and I checked my treasure to see if anything had been stolen, but it was all there. I weeped and walked along the shore until Athena came down to me in the form of a shepherd, and I ran up to him and greeted him and asked for shelter, help, and the name of the island. To which he answered that I must be an idiot not to know that this is Ithaka. To this I laughed and made up a lie about how I got here. But the shepherd became the figure of Athena and laughed at my skill to come up with such a good story and disguise, and she told me not to tell anyone who I am and that she was to tell me some information. We talked a while, and Athena told me how my wife still waited faithfully and how she couldn't fight against Poseidon for me poking out his son's eye, and she dispelled the mist so everyone could see me. I kissed the ground and prayed to the Naiades, then Athena lead me to the cave where we would hide my goods. She entered first and explored the cave while I carried up the treasure and she closed the treasure in with a rock door, then we sat under the olive tree and figured out how to disperse of the suitors. She talked to me and fired me up into a rage so that I promised to kill every suitor if she faught with me. She then transformed me so that not a soul would know who I was and sent me to the swineherder while she went and called Telemakhos back from abroad. With that we went our separate ways.
Picture from: http://www.peacetour.org/files/WEB_OliveBranch.jpg
No comments:
Post a Comment