Tales from the Odyssey, Part 1

by Mary Pope Osborne

  “Hurry!” said one of Odysseus’ men. “Let us grab provisions and leave!”

  “Yes! We should drive the lambs down to our ship before their master returns!” said another.

  “No,” said Odysseus. “We will wait awhile….I am curious to see who lives here.”

  The Greeks made a fire and gave an offering to the gods. Then they greedily took their fill of milk and cheese. Finally, in the late afternoon, they heard whistling and bleating.

  “Ah, the shepherd returns,” Odysseus said. “Let us step forward and meet this man.”

  But when they peered out of the cave, the Greeks gasped with horror—for the shepherd was not a man at all. He was a monster.

  FIVE

  THE ONE-EYED GIANT

  A hideous giant lumbered into the clearing. He carried nearly half a forest’s worth of wood on his back. His monstrous head jutted from his body like a shaggy mountain peak. A single eye bulged in the center of his forehead.

  The monster was Polyphemus. He was the most savage of all the Cyclopes, a race of fierce one-eyed giants who lived without laws or leaders. The Cyclopes were ruthless creatures who were known to capture and devour any sailors who happened near their shores.

  Polyphemus threw down his pile of wood. As it crashed to the ground, Odysseus and his men fled to the darkest corners of the cave.

  Unaware that the Greeks were hiding inside, Polyphemus drove his animals into the cave. Then he rolled a huge boulder over its mouth to block out the light of day and imprison his flock inside.

  Twenty-four wagons could not haul that rock away, Odysseus thought desperately. How will we escape this monster?

  Odysseus’ men trembled with terror as the giant made a small fire and milked his goats in the shadowy light. His milking done, he threw more wood on his fire. The flame blazed brightly, lighting up the corners of the cave where Odysseus and his men were hiding.

  “What’s this? Who are you? From where do you come?” the giant boomed. He glared at the Greeks with his single eye. “Are you pirates who steal the treasure of others?”

  Odysseus’ men were frozen with terror. But Odysseus hid his own fear and stepped toward the monster.

  “We are not pirates,” he said. “We are Greeks blown off course by storm winds. Will you offer us the gift of hospitality like a good host? If you do, mighty Zeus, king of the gods, will be pleased. Zeus is the guardian of all strangers.”

  “Fool!” the giant growled. “Who are you to tell me to please Zeus? I am a son of Poseidon, god of the seas! I am not afraid of Zeus!”

  Odysseus’ men cowered in fear.

  Polyphemus moved closer to Odysseus. He spoke in a soft, terrible voice. “But tell me, stranger, where is your ship? Near or far from shore?”

  Odysseus knew Polyphemus was trying to trap him. “Our ship was destroyed in the storm,” he lied. “It was dashed against the rocks. With these good men, I escaped. I ask you again, will you welcome us?”

  The Cyclops stared for a moment at Odysseus. Then, without warning, he grabbed two Greeks. He smashed them against the stone floor, killing them at once. The giant tore the men limb from limb and devoured them—flesh, bones, and all.

  The rest of Odysseus’ men cried aloud with horror. They raised their arms to Mount Olympus, begging Zeus for help. Odysseus gathered his strength and commanded his men to be silent.

  The giant washed down his gruesome meal with a bucket of goat’s milk. “There!” he said, smacking his lips. “Let that be my welcome to you.”

  The monster belched. Then he lay down on the floor among his fat sheep and tiny lambs. Soon he was fast asleep and snoring.

  Trembling with rage, Odysseus drew his sword, ready to slay the bloodthirsty beast. But wisdom stopped him.

  He took a deep breath. “We can never roll that rock away from the entrance,” he said to his horror-stricken men. “If I slay the brute, we will die, too, trapped forever in his wretched lair.”

  Odysseus put away his weapon. He had no choice but to wait for morning—and for the giant to wake.

  SIX

  ODYSSEUS’ PLAN

  After many terrible hours, the light of dawn crept through the cracks at the mouth of the cave.

  Odysseus watched the Cyclops open his eye, then heave himself up from the ground. The giant lit a fire and milked his goats. When he was done with his chores, he snatched up two more Greeks.

  The terrified warriors again begged for Zeus to help them. But as before, the mighty god did not heed their cries.

  Odysseus and his men watched the monster smash their two comrades against a stone wall, then devour them for breakfast.

  The Greeks reeled at the horror of the sight. Again, Odysseus felt a murderous rage toward the monster, but again he fought to conceal it.

  After his gory meal, Polyphemus rolled away the boulder from the mouth of the cave. He called for his flock and led them out into the sunlight. Then he rolled the mighty rock back against the entrance, trapping the Greeks inside. They could hear the monster whistling as he drove his goats and sheep down the mountain slope.

  Odysseus and his men were sickened by the gruesome murder of their friends. The men moaned and wept, but Odysseus ordered them to be silent.

  “Weeping will not save us,” he said. “We must make a plan.”

  His men were too distraught to think clearly, so Odysseus paced about the cave alone, searching for a way to destroy the giant.

  Peering about the shadowy cave, Odysseus caught sight of the giant’s club. Made from fresh green olive wood, the club was as tall as the mast of a twenty-oared trading ship.

  Odysseus seized the club and chopped off a six-foot stake. He ordered his men to carve the wood into a spike. When they were done, he honed one end until it was razor sharp.

  “Now, let us draw lots to see who will help me,” he said.

  The men drew lots, and four were chosen to help. Odysseus told them his plan. Then he hid the stake in the shadows of the cave.

  “All we can do now is wait,” he said.

  His men huddled together like frightened children. But as Odysseus sat and stared at the entrance of the cave, his heart grew cold and hard.

  Finally, he heard the awful whistling of the monster, then the bleating of sheep.

  The huge rock was rolled away. Sunlight streamed into the cave. Flocks of sheep and goats bounded in. The one-eyed giant lumbered behind them.

  Once all were inside, Polyphemus again rolled the boulder against the mouth of the cave. Without even a glance at the Greeks, he stoked his fires and set about milking his goats.

  The Cyclops finished his chores. Then just as suddenly as before, he grabbed two more men. He bashed them against the stone floor and ate them for supper. When he had finished his meal of flesh and bone, the one-eyed giant grinned horribly at the remaining Greeks.

  Odysseus’ men cried out in terror before the bloody monster.

  Odysseus himself trembled with fury. But he forced himself to smile. He rose calmly and picked up his wineskin. With a steady hand, he poured sweet red wine into a wooden bowl.

  “Here, sir,” he said, offering the bowl to the Cyclops. “Please drink our good wine. I give it to you as a gift with the hope that you will take pity on us and help us find our way home.”

  The giant snatched the bowl from Odysseus and gulped down the wine. When he was done, he held out the bowl and thundered, “MORE! MORE! Give me MORE!”

  Odysseus poured more wine into the bowl, and Polyphemus gulped it all down.

  “MORE!” the monster bellowed. “MORE! And tell me your name!”

  Odysseus filled the bowl a third time. The giant poured it down his throat. Then he put down the bowl and began to stagger about the cave. Odysseus saw that the wine had gone to the giant’s head. He knew it would soon be time to act.

  “Sir, you have asked me for my name,” said Odysseus. “I will give it to you as a gift. But you must give me a gift in return. My name is No One. That is what everyone
calls me. No One.”

  The giant laughed cruelly.

  “Ha! No One!” he said. “Thank you for your gift. Now I give you a gift in return. It is this: I will eat you and all of your men. But I will eat you last! That is my gift to you, No One. Ha-ha-ha!”

  As he laughed, the giant lost his balance. He staggered back a few steps. Then he slid down the stone wall and crashed to the ground. His huge head drooped to one side. His eye closed and he began to snore. The giant’s snores were so thunderous that all the milk pails rattled throughout the cave.

  Odysseus moved quickly. He jammed the sharpened end of the stake into the burning embers. He beckoned to his men to stand near him. Then he pulled the stake from the fire.

  “Help us, O Zeus!” Odysseus prayed.

  The mighty god finally seemed to hear his prayer. As Odysseus took a deep breath, he felt a surge of strength and power.

  Odysseus gave a sign. Then all together, the men raised the stake and rammed its burning point into the giant’s huge, bulging eye.

  The Cyclops let out a piercing howl.

  The eye hissed and sizzled.

  The Greeks let go of the stake and fled to the corners of the cave.

  Polyphemus pulled the spike from his eye and hurled it away from him. Blinded and groaning with pain, he fell to the floor of his cave. He bellowed for help.

  All the other Cyclopes who lived on the island hurried over the dark rocks and gathered outside the cave.

  “What ails you, Polyphemus?” one shouted. “Why do you break the stillness of the night with your cries? Who harms you?”

  “NO ONE!” Polyphemus shouted, writhing on the floor of his cave. “No One tried to kill me! No One blinded me!”

  “Well, if no one has harmed you, you must be ill,” said the other Cyclopes. “And when Zeus makes one of us ill, the others can offer no help.”

  With no further talk, all the Cyclopes turned away and lumbered back to their own caves.

  Odysseus felt laughter rise in his throat. His bold trick had worked!

  Growling with rage, the giant felt along the walls with his huge hands, searching for the rock that sealed up the cave. When he found it, he pushed it away.

  Odysseus was overjoyed—he and his men would soon be free! But before they could flee, the blinded Cyclops sat down in the open mouth of the cave and stretched out his huge arms. The monster grew very still. He was waiting to capture the first Greek who tried to escape.

  SEVEN

  THE CURSE OF THE CYCLOPS

  Hour after hour, Polyphemus waited at the mouth of the cave. Hour after hour, Odysseus wondered how he might save himself and his men. Near dawn, his gaze rested on the fat, fleecy sheep. There must be a way to use them, he thought.

  Odysseus stood up silently. He quickly chose eighteen of the largest sheep. Then, using long, young willow branches, he silently bound the sheep together in groups of three. When this was done, he lashed each of his men to the belly of a middle sheep.

  When all his men were concealed by the curly, white wool of the sheep, Odysseus chose the mightiest ram for himself and hid beneath it.

  Dawn crept into the cave. Just as they did every morning, the sheep began to bleat and move out of the cave, heading for the mountain meadows.

  As the sheep moved past the Cyclops, he ran his hands through their wool, searching for Odysseus’ men. But the blind giant touched only the two outside sheep in the groups of three. Little did he imagine that the Greek warriors were hiding in the wool of the center sheep.

  One by one, Odysseus’ men passed smoothly and secretly past the Cyclops and out of his reach. But when the mighty ram began to move out of the cave, the giant stopped him and stroked his wool.

  Odysseus held his breath as he hid beneath the ram’s belly.

  “Ah, my old friend,” Polyphemus said to the ram, “why do you move so slowly this morning? You are always the first to run into the flowery meadow or the bubbling spring. You are always the first to come home at night. Do you move slowly now because you know your master has lost his sight? Do you grieve for me? If only you could speak and tell me where No One hides, I would catch him and bash out his brains.”

  The ram bleated impatiently, and the giant let him go. The ram—and Odysseus—moved out of the giant’s reach and beyond the cave.

  As soon as they were a safe distance away, Odysseus slipped out from beneath the ram’s belly. He quickly untied his men. He silently urged them to hurry. Then the men drove the giant’s flock down to the water.

  The Greeks who had waited by the ship rejoiced to see their friends alive. But they fell to weeping when they learned of the six who had been brutally slain.

  “End your grieving now!” Odysseus ordered. “We must put out to sea at once, before the Cyclops discovers we are gone and comes after us!”

  Odysseus and his men drove the Cyclops’ sheep onto their ship. Then they pushed off and rowed quickly through the calm, gray sea.

  Once they were far away from shore, Odysseus stood up in the boat. “Polyphemus!” he shouted. “Polyphemus!”

  In a moment, the monster appeared at the edge of the cliff. He bellowed with rage when he realized Odysseus and his men had escaped.

  “You should have thought twice before making a meal of my men!” shouted Odysseus. “See how Zeus has punished you!”

  The blind giant answered with a shriek of fury. He tore a slab of rock from the high cliff, and with all his might he hurled it at the Greeks.

  The rock crashed into the water in front of the ship. A wave rose like a huge mountain. It scooped up the Greek ship and washed it all the way back to the Cyclopes’ island and hurled it onto the beach!

  Odysseus grabbed a long oar and pushed the ship back into the water.

  “Row! Row!” he shouted to his crew. “Row for your lives!”

  The Greeks madly rowed their ship out to sea. As they moved far beyond the shore of the blind giant, Odysseus could not help jeering at the beast again.

  “Polyphemus!” he bellowed.

  His men begged Odysseus to hold his tongue. “Do not taunt the monster! He will sink our ship for certain!”

  But Odysseus paid no attention to their pleas. His anger and pride were so great, he could not stop himself from making a terrible mistake: he told his true name to the giant.

  “Polyphemus!” he shouted. “If anyone asks you who put out your eye, do not tell them it was No One. Tell them it was Odysseus, king of Ithaca! Odysseus, the great warrior and raider of cities! He was the one who blinded you!”

  “Alas! The prophecy has come true!” boomed the giant. “Long ago, a soothsayer said a man named Odysseus would blind me. I had been waiting for someone of godlike strength. But you—you are a weakling! Come back, so I can give you a gift to prove my hospitality! To please your Zeus! So he will heal my eye!”

  “Heal you?” Odysseus shouted mockingly. “Neither Zeus nor I wish to heal you, monster! I only wish to send you to the Land of the Dead!”

  The giant lifted his hands and prayed to his father, Poseidon, god of the seas. “Hear me, Father!” he thundered. “Put a curse on Odysseus, king of Ithaca! May he never reach his home alive! If he must, may he lose his way, his ships, and all his men! May he find only sorrow and trouble on his journey!”

  The Cyclops then picked up a rock even bigger than the first and hurled it at Odysseus. But this time the rock landed behind the ship, and a mountainous wave bore the Greek ship toward the goat island where the rest of the fleet waited.

  Odysseus and his men were welcomed with great cries of relief. But once again joy turned to sorrow when the Greeks learned how the giant had brutally slain their friends.

  As the sun went down, the Greeks feasted on mutton and wine. When night came, they lay down and slept soundly on the sand near the shore.

  At dawn, Odysseus ordered his men aboard the ships. They all took their places. Then, with swift strokes, the Greeks left the goat island and headed across the rolling gray waves.r />
  As the fleet of ships glided into the unknown, Odysseus looked about worriedly. Would the sea god Poseidon do as his monstrous son had asked? Would he punish Odysseus for blinding Polyphemus? And if so, how? And when?

  EIGHT

  THE PALACE OF THE WIND GOD

  Soon Odysseus and his men came upon a great rocky island. A huge bronze fortress gleamed beyond its shore. Sounds of joyful music and laughter came from within the fortress.

  “Seafarers once told me about this happy kingdom,” Odysseus said to his men. “It is home to Aeolus, god of the winds. He lives with his six sons and six daughters. Night and day they feast on roasted meats and listen to the music of whistles and pipes.”

  “But how will they receive us?” a Greek asked fearfully. Odysseus’ men were still plagued with nightmarish memories of the Cyclops.

  “The wind god is a friend to Zeus,” said Odysseus. “I believe he will honor the gods’ command that strangers must always be greeted with kindness.”

  Odysseus’ words proved to be true. When the Greeks climbed ashore on the rocky island, Aeolus welcomed them warmly. He even invited them to stay at his palace and visit with him and his family.

  Odysseus wished to be on his way as soon as possible, but he agreed to stay on Aeolus’ island for a month. His men greatly needed to rest, and Odysseus had an idea of how the wind god might later help them get home.

  In the following weeks, while his men enjoyed the luxurious palace life, Odysseus told the wind god the story of the long war between the Greeks and the Trojans. He told him about the wooden horse and the fall of Troy.

  Aeolus was grateful to hear such exciting tales. When Odysseus finished his stories, the god offered to give him a gift in return.

  “I ask only one thing,” Odysseus said. “Will you help my fleet of ships get home safely to Ithaca? Will you spare us gales and storms and give us a gentle wind to open our sails?”

  Aeolus enthusiastically agreed. He called together all the winds from the east and the west, and all the winds from the north and the south. At the god’s bidding, each of the winds became perfectly still. Even fierce storm winds obeyed their master’s command.