Book 17 - The Beggar at the Manor

When dawn came, Telemakhos went into town to check on the guest he had brought with him and to show his mother that he was ok. He also asked the swinherd to bring me into town a little later so that I could beg for food from the suitors. Telemakhos got home and once Penelope had hugged and kissed him, he told her to go bathe, change into a dress, and pray to Zeus for revenge. He then went into the square to find Theoklymenos and brought him home for lunch. And they ate while Penelope silently sat spinning a fine wool yarn. When they'd finished eating, Penelope asked what news Telemakhos had found of Odysseus. He told her his journey, how he found out that Odysseus was being held hostage by a nymph and how he was glad to have escaped death by the suitors. Then Theoklymenos, the prophet's son, told Penelope that he had had a glimpse at where Odysseus is and that he is on the island, but Penelope just wished for that to be true. Meanwhile, the suitors were crowding in for dinner after a day of discus throwing and javelin practice. While the prepared dinner, I and the swineherd were coming down from the hut, and on the way we met the shepherd, a man loyal to the suitors, who made fun of me and the swinherd and made my heart and temper flare up in anger, but I controlled myself and ignored his insults as he walked past us to the palace. We arrived at the palace where we met my old dog who was neglected and covered in fleas, dying of misuse and old age, and once he had wagged his tail and seen his master after 20 years, he laid his head down and died. The swineherd went into the palace while I waited outside for a while so as not to arrive with him. I went inside after a while and waited at the window. Telemakhos sent the swineherd over to me with a loaf of bread but he also told me to go beg among the suitors. So I did, and most of them gave me some good bread to fill up my bag, except for Antinoos who decided to throw a foot stool at me, which hurt rather a lot. And by going through the men, I knew who was nice and who wasn't, and this could help me decide how to bring death upon them. I went to the window once more, when Penelope sent the swineherd to bring me into her study because I had travelled the world so much I might have news of Odysseus. But when the swineherd came to tell me, I told him to tell Penelope that I'd come once everyone had gone to bed for it would look bad if a beggar was alone with her in her room, and with this Penelope agreed. So the swineherd went home for the night and I waited for the suitors to go so that I could go talk with my wife...

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Book 16 - Father and Son

When Telemakhos arrived, without even a growl from the watchdogs, I and the swineherd were just talking, but when he came in, the swineherd hugged and kissed him, for he was so glad that Telemakhos had escaped death at the hands of the suitors. The swinherd asked if I could have protection from Telemakhos and stay at the palace, and Telemakhos replied that it would be unsafe for me to stay up there and that he would clothe me and sail me wherever I wanted, but that I'd have to stay here for safety. I told Telemakhos that, with no disrespect intended, instead of just running away from the suitors he should stand up and fight because even if he went alone and died, at least he died honorably and in his own home rather than in far off lands. Telemakhos explained his situation a bit more, then sent the swineherd to his mother to tell only her that he had arrived home safely, but not to tell any other Akhaians because they wanted to kill him. The swineherd left, and soon Athena appeared as a wise old women to everyone but me (I knew it was Athena) and she beckoned me outside and when I went to her, she told me to tell Telemakhos who I am and what I'm planning to do. And with that she tipped her golden wand on me and I became young again, with a pure white cloak and fresh knit tunic, no beard, and a sun-kissed sailor's air about me. I walked back into the cabin and Telemakhos thought I was a god because I had changed so drastically, and I said I wasn't but I was his father, Odysseus, and I cried and embraced him. But he didn't think it was me and said that only spirits or those helped by gods could change so drastically. I replied that it was I, the one and only, and that Athena was helping me with the changes and Telemakhos sat down, bewildered. He then threw his arms around me and we both weeped. When we finally stopped crying, Telemakhos asked how I arrived here, and I told him that the Phaiakians brought me here while I slept and with a huge amount of treasures hidden in a cave at the shore. I also told him that we were going to kill the suitors. And he wondered how, and we had a little discussion about the gods and how we were going to do this. Back at the palace, both the crew and the swineherd told Penelope that Telemakhos was home. The crew sailed down the beach, where the suitors met them, wondering how Telemakhos escaped their grasp, and telling the crew how they meant to kill Telemakhos so that he could be gone for good. Then one suitor spoke up, saying how they shouldn't kill one of royal blood and they should consult the gods; if they say yes, they'll kill Telemakhos, if no, then don't kill him, and every suitor agreed. And Penelope knew they wanted to kill Telemakhos and when the suitors poured into the palace, Penelope came and told them that she knew and asked why they plotted so. And one suitor was bold enough to stand up and tell Penelope straight lies about how they would nevertouch Telemakhos, and when he was done she silently went to her chambers and wept until Athena sent her to sleep.

The swineherd approached, and Athena quickly turned me old once more. Telemakhos greeted him first, asking about news from town, but the swineherd had rushed there and home and had had no time for town talk. We ate pig for dinner and drank lots of wine and sat down and talked. When we finally couldn't talk anymore, we took the gift of sleep and left talking until the morning.

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Book 15 - How They Came to Ithaka

Guest Blogger: Telemakhos

I couldn't sleep, and my insomnia was greatened when Athena came and told me that my father was back on Ithaka and I should go home. It also didn't help when she told me that the suitors had set up a trap for me and were ready to murder me on my return before I reached land. But Athena then put to rest my fears when she told me that the suitors were to die instead, rather ironic really. So when dawn approached, we told the king that we were staying with that I had a longing for home and had to leave immediatly, and so as to honor his guests' wishes, he sent us off with 3 extremely meaningful gifts. We left Menelaos' house with our team of racing mares pulling us closer and closer to home. We only stopped to sleep that night, and when we got to the palace of Nestor, I asked his son, as a wish of a guest, that I should be brought straight to the boat and leave for home, because his father was sure to slow me down if he new I was here. Nestor's son agreed to this, but before we set off a strange man came up to me, the son of a prophet, called Theoklymenos and asked who I was. I replied truthfully, and he told me that he had killed a cousin, so everyone in his homeland-area was after him and on his tail right now, and the only way for him to live is if he comes with us on the ship. And since he longed for the sea, and his life depended on it, I couldn't refuse and I invited him aboard, and we set off...

Odysseus Blogging:

I ate with the swinherd once more and I told him that I might go to the port, see if I could get something from a little begging, and possibly even go to see Queen Penelope and tell her my news of Odysseus. And this made Eumaios furious and he replied telling me that I shouldn't go beg, and that he could look after me longer until Telemakhos came home and could send me home with good clothing and food, and I thanked him for letting me stay longer. I asked him how he ended up working for Odysseus and he replied with a long story about how men came to his island of Syrie and stole away one of the women of the house and she took him with her, but while on the ship home, Artemis killed her and he was left alone. And when his story finished, I told him how sorry I was for him, but glad that he got a nice home eventually, and we talked all night.

Back to Telemakhos:

We came upon the island and rowed into shore, and once we had landed we ate breakfast. I stood up and told everyone that they were going to go into town and I would join them later, and the new passenger asked what he should do, and I replied that I would invite him to my house if it wasn't horrible, but it was, so I told him to go as a guest to Eurymakhos' house. But the gods sent a message that he should stay with us, so I called on Peiraios to take the guest up to my house. All the men boarded the ship and headed to town while I stayed on land and put my sandals on and took up my spear. Swiftly on foot I went to the swineherd's house...

Picture from: http://www.goravani.com/art/Copper_spear.html

Book 14 - Hospitality in the Forest

I went up into the high hills to find where the swineherd lived. This man was the most loyal worker of Odysseus, and he lived with his herds in a little shack that he built himself. When Odysseus got there, the swineherd was making himself some sandals from oxhide, but I couldn't get to him because of the wolf-like guard dogs who would've torn me to pieces if I hadn't sat down and the swineherd had noticed me. He scattered the dogs and invited me, the beggar, into his house and I thanked him graciously. To this he answered a short story about how his master Odysseus was one of the greatest men in the world, and so much nicer than the suitors are. With this told, he slaughtered to small pigs and roasted them, giving one to me and one for himself, he then filled up wine bowls for both of us, and we talked over this small, but amazing lunch. He told me more about how amazing Odysseus was and how much he missed him, and I tried to tell him that Odysseus (I) was alive, but so many people had come supposedly bearing news of Odysseus, but they all ended up lying just to get great food and shelter. The swineherd then asked me to tell where I was from, and I made up a huge story about "myself" in which I went through many troubles, the loss of my crew and much greed from them, not being near my son and wife, etc. and as I told it, I realised that the story was my own, just with different actors playing the parts. We managed to talk so long past lunch that by the time we were finished, it was dinner time, and the swineherd's four helpers had started to herd up the pigs into their pens and they trudged in for dinner. Then the swineherd had them kill the biggest and juiciest pig just for me. They cut off the parts for the gods and burnt them, thanking the gods and praying for the safe homecoming of Odysseus. Once all the sacrificing and praying was done, he put the best part of the pig infront of me, since I was the guest, and I thanked him. Then we talked more, and I told a story in which "Odysseus" gave me a cloal because I was cold (the whole story was a hint to them to give me a cloak for I would need one to travel around in these rags without freezing), and when I was done, the swineherd told me that I could sleep over and have some of the blankets while I slept, but since they were very poor, they only had one set of clothes and therefore had no cloak to spare. With this he rose and laid out a bed of skins infront of the fire for me, and I lay down with the soft blanket over me. Everyone went to sleep except the swineherd, who went outside with his huge cloak to guard him against the wind, and slept with the very swine he guarded, and it warmed my heart to have such a hard working man under my wing.

Picture from: http://acharlie.tripod.com/shepherd.html

Book 13 - One More Strange Island

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.

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Book 12 - Sea Perils and Defeat

We left the land of the Men of Winter, and landed on an island while the sky was still dark. And by dawn we had woken and I had sent some men to get Elpenor's body from Kirke's island while I and the men not sent built a pyre. Kirke, knowing that we had passed theough the land of the dead alive, came with some of her hand maidens bearing food and drink. She congratulated us for being the only mortals to come out alive, and she said she'd map out the landmarks and perils in our journey ahead so that we wouldn't get beached or killed when we sailed out tomorrow. All that day we feasted and when night came and all my men went to sleep, she took my hand and lead me over to a bush where we lay down together and she asked me to tell her everything that had happened down their since our lasting meeting. She listened intently, and when I was done, she warned me about sirens in our path and she told me how to pass them without dying. Once I passed them, I'd have two options: to go through the drifters, a place where no one had survived except for the Argos who's captain was favored by Hera, and to pass the den of Skylla, a fearful monster who takes crew straight from the ship, one man per head. Kirke recommended that I take the route of Skylla because the loss of a whole boat and every man on it is greater than the loss of just 6 men. Once we passed that island, we'd come upon the island of Thrinakia where Helios' immortal sheep live and graze, guarded by his nymph daughters Phaethousa and Lampetia, and though we'll be tempted to take one of the sheep, we mustn't because if we do, doom and destruction will come upon the ship and crew. And she finished as the first rays of dawn spread across the sky, and she left me, walking up the island and away. As soon as she left, I roused up the men and herded them onto the ship, there I told them what Kirke had told me; I asked them to tie me to the mast and not let me go no matter how much I begged, because I was to be the only one to hear the siren's song, but if I were to get loose I'd die. So we set off and as we started to near the sirens, I rolled beeswax into soft balls which the crew then put in my ears, they then tied me to the mast and went to the oars where they would row us quickly past the sirens. Soon I could hear the faint song of the two sirens, and it was so lovely that I cried to my crew to untie me and allow me to go closer, but they just tied me up more and rowed on in silence. As soon as the sirens went over the horizon and we could no longer hear them, the crew took out the beeswax and untied me, but no sooner had we left the domain of the sirens did we start getting pulled into the whirlpool and oars flew from the crew's hands. But I gave them encouragement and they caught their oars and picked up pace and soon we were out of range of the whirlpool, but I could see the mountains of Skylla and I didn't tell the crew of the horror awaiting them. We neared, then Skylla striked and took 6 of my best men as her meal and they screamed for help as they were gobbled up, and we just had to ignore them and row on. And we came upon the island of Helios, and it was a full crew vote to land, sleep, and leave in the morning, so I had to oblige but I made them swear not to harm a single sheep on that island and to only eat what Kirke had stocked us up with. They all swore and we reached land, made dinner, mourned the loss of our 6 men, and fell asleep. A month of storms hit the island and by the middle of them we had finished all our provisions and were surviving off fishing. My hungry crew was finding it increasingly harder to keep their hands off the sheep, but I reminded them that terrible things would happen if they touched one of those cattle. I went to a silent little cove where I prayed to the gods for salvation, but they only sent me to sleep. While I was asleep, Eurylokhos persuaded my crew into killing a heifer for food and they went and killed some, offered the good parts to the gods, and ate the rest. Suddenly I awoke from my slumber to the sweet smell of meat roasting, and I realised what my crew had done. Helios told Zeus to kill my men, and he promised to shatter my boat with a lightning bolt. But I couldn't do anything to help them, because they had already killed the animals (which lasted for 6 days each). Suddenly the day became clear, and we left the island with the meat, but Zeus was creating thunder above us, and within moments, the nice day turned black and lightning tore the ship's mast down and knocked all the crew off the ship to die. I alone was left to cling onto the ship, but one more buck sent me into the winedark sea. I drifted off on the remnants of the mast to Ogygia Isle where the nymph Kalypso took me as her lover. And at that somber note, I finished my tale...

Picture from: http://www.skylla.co.uk/blog

Book 11 - A Gathering of Shades

We put the ewe and ram on the ship and left, every single one of my men's faces wet with tears. We sailed all day, and by night we had reached the realm of the Men of Winter, where it is never light. There we touched land, and took the ram and ewe off the boat, and walked along the stream to a place where I dug a pit and poured libations to the dead round it. I then promised the dead that when I got home I would sacrifice my best cow and give them all the good parts, and the handsomest black lamb of my flock. Then I killed the lamb and ewe, letting their blood drain into the pit. At this the souls gathered around the pit, and I ordered my crew to burn the bodies of the ram and ewe in the name of sovereign Death and Persephone. In the crowd of lonely souls, I found that of young Elpenor and I asked how he had died and he told me; but he also told me how Telemakhos had left home. He then asked me to build him a cairn above the breakers when we got back home, and of course I said yes. In that crowd I also saw my mother, but, weaping, I had to keep her away from the blood. Soon the prince of Thebes came through the crowd, holding a golden staff and talked to me and told me that he would taste the blood on my sword to see if I was true. He licked it, and began to tell me of my future. He said I could pass, but anguish lies ahead from Poseidon because I poked out his son's eye. When I make landfall on Thrinakia I will see the herds of Helios grazing, but if I or any of my crew touched one of those sheep, we'd be dead in a second. I would carry on my journey alone, for my whole crew will die, and when I finally return home I'll have to kill the suitors who raid my home and court my wife. With that done, I will once more go on a journey to a place where barbarians live, and there I will sacrifice my best ram, bull, and buck boar to Lord Poseidon. And finally when I have lived my life through, I will die softly at the hands of the sea, with everyone at peace. I asked him why my mom's ghost hadn't talked to me, and he said that any ghost that drinks the blood will be able to speak the truth, but one who don't drink it will fade away once more, and with that he retired to the halls of Death. I allowed my mother to drink the blood, and at once she recognized me and asked why I came alive to this awful place. I told her that I came here for a prophecy from Teiresias' shade, and I hadn't managed to reach home since I left Troy. I then asked her how she died, and about my still living family back at home. She told me that my wife was still faithful and spent all night weeping for me to come home, and that Telemakhos holds the public honor of a magistrate, and that my father has retired as a hermit to the country waiting for me to come home as age slowly sets in. And finally, she told me that her pain waiting for me had finally taken over and killed her. I tried to hug her, but she sifted through my fingers and I cried. I let my mother go, and allowed those shades that Persephone sent to drink the blood, but in order and one by one so that I could question them. And an amazing lot of shades they were, many princesses who had lain with Gods and mothers of famous heroes. Once I had talked to all of them, I told everyone, human and shade, that it was time for us to sleep, " then, I fell silent, and the whole hall echoed my words. Alkinoos then stood up and told everyone that I should be allowed home, but to stay one more night for all my gifts to be given and stored. Alkinoos then asked me if I had seen any of my deceased friends from Troy in that underworld, and I replied that I had met Agamemnon, and when I asked how he died, he told of the treachery of his wife, and how she and her new husband had killed him as soon as he stepped on the mainland. And after I spoke to him, many of my companions from Troy appeared, recognized me, and talked to me. I then looked over the underworld, and saw all those condemned to everlasting pain for horrible things they had done in their lifetime, and along with them I saw the amazing heroes and people who were allowed a place over all the dead. I saw and talked to many more reat heroes from the past, and I was waiting to talk to more, but Persephone sent shades, so I hastily called my crew together and we borded the boat and set off, first with oars, and then with a following wind...

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