Friday, February 22, 2008

Book 9 - New Coasts and Poseidon's Son


When Alkinoos asked me my identity, I replied that I am Odysseus, maker of peace and war, and I have been away from my homeland for many years because I was captured by Kalypso, and then I told him my story. My Fleet was sent off course, by Zeus, to a place where we were chased off by the natives. Once more, Zeus was angry, so as we tried to get away from the island, he conjured up another lightning storm and we were trapped for 3 more days. We would have made it safely home on the 3rd day, but currents pulled us out to sea, and we didn't see land for 9 days. On the 10th day, we landed on the island of the Lotos Eaters, who wished us no harm, but only offered the Lotos to my friends. But those who ate the Lotos no longer yearned for home, but only wanted to stay on the island and eat the Lotos, so when we left the island, we had to tie them down to benches on the boat. We set sail, and the next island we found was home to the Kyklopes, who weren't exactly a friendly species, more a group of lonely sheep-osessed herders. So, I rounded up a group of my friends and we trekked up to the Kyklopes' cave to make peace with him. When we got there, he wasn't there, so we set up camp among the the drying cheese and the pens full of lambs and waited for him to arrive. Once he came back, he asked why we were here, and we replied asking for peace in the name of the Gods, but since he was a Kyklopes, he didn't bow down to the Gods, and he didn't allow peace between us. So in one stride he captured some of my friends, ate them, then went to sleep. In the morning, he ate some more of my companions, then took his flocks of sheep out to graze, closing the boulder behind him. While he was out, we composed a plan to kill him with a stake made from the wood found in his cave. I chose 4 of the best men to accompany me on the mission, then we waited patiently for the beast to come back. The time finally came when he opened the door and came back in, ate his last meal of my friends, and lay down to sleep. At that moment, I realised that if we killed him, we could never open the boulder door, so I devised my own sub-plan in my head in the few minutes I had. We crept up to his giant sleeping body, then I walked quietly over to his head and drove the smouldering stake into his eye. His screams of pain were terrible, and he asked who the person was that hurt him, and I replied "Nohbdy" is my name, and the stupid beast believed it. So when his screams brought the other Kyklopes to his cave asking what was wrong, he answered "Nohbody hurt me" and the Kyklopes went away. Next we had to get out of the cave. So I tied each of my men to the bottom of a sheep, and we waited 'til morning. In the morning, the Kyklopes blindly opened the door and let out all of his sheep to graze. Once I and all my men were outside, I untied them all, and we hearded the sheep towards our ships as a prize for escaping the island. We got all the sheep on the ships and set sail with what crew we had left. And as we left, I shouted back to the Kyklopes "It wasn't Nohbdy that tricked you, it was I, Odysseus" and the Kyklopes threw a rock out at me, and I was going to shout back something more, but my crew stopped me from fear of another rock. And as we sailed away, the Kyklopes prayed to his father Poseidon to not let us get home safely, and the great god heard his son's prayers and promised to fulfill them.

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