The Odyssey, Page 32

  since it would carry me back to murderous Charybdis.

  All night long it so bore me, until at sunrise I came

  to the headland of Skylle and to dread Charybdis, who now

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  sucked in the salt seawater; but I reached up

  as high as I could, caught hold of the tall fig tree,

  and clung to it like a bat. Yet I could in no way manage

  to get firm foothold or to climb up on it, since

  its roots were far distant, its branches high, out of reach,

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  long, massive, overshadowing Charybdis. So there

  I clung on persistently, waiting for her to spew back

  the mast and keel again. To my delight, back they came,

  though late--at the hour a man leaves assembly for supper,

  one who judges the many disputes of quarrelsome young men,

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  then it was that those timbers resurfaced out of Charybdis.

  I let go my handhold and foothold, went plunging down,

  hit the water ahead of the lengthy spars, and sitting

  astride them steered my way onward with both hands.

  But Skylle the Father of gods and men did not permit

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  to see me again, or I'd not have avoided sheer destruction.

  "Nine days I was carried from there, and on the tenth night

  I was brought by the gods to the isle of Ogygia, where

  fair-haired Kalypso dwells, dread goddess of human speech,

  who befriended and cared for me. But why tell you this story?

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  I've told it already, just yesterday, here in your house

  to you and your comely wife. I really dislike repeating

  a tale that's been clearly narrated on a previous occasion."

  Book 13

  So he spoke: every one of them sat hushed and silent,

  enthralled by his words, throughout the shadowy hall.

  Then Alkinoos once again responded to him, saying:

  "Odysseus, now you've come to my brazen-floored home

  with its high roof, I don't think you'll be driven back here again

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  on your homeward journey, despite all your misadventures!

  This I say along with a charge on each man here present--

  all you who in my halls daily drink up the elders'

  tawny-red wine, and sit on here, listening to the singer.

  Clothes are laid by for the stranger in a polished chest,

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  and finely wrought gold, together with all those other gifts

  that the counselors of the Phaiakians brought here. But come,

  let's each one of us now present him with a great tripod

  and cauldron: we'll recoup the cost by a public collection--

  it's hard for one man to spend that much without repayment."

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  So spoke Alkinoos: what he said was pleasing to them.

  They now retired to rest, each man to his own house.

  When Dawn appeared, early risen and rosy-fingered,

  they went down to the ship with the bronze in which men delight.

  Alkinoos, princely in power, himself ranged through the ship,

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  stowing gifts under the benches, to ensure they would not

  get in the way of the rowers when they bent to their oars.

  Then they went to Alkinoos' house and had their dinner.

  Alkinoos, princely in power, sacrificed an ox for them

  to Zeus of the dark clouds, son of Kronos, lord over all.

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  After burning the thighs, they sat down to the splendid feast

  with great enjoyment. Among them a divine bard performed--

  Demodokos, highly honored by the people. But Odysseus

  kept turning his head toward the bright-shining sun,

  impatient for it to start setting: he wanted to be gone.

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  As a man longs for supper, one with whose jointed plow

  two wine-dark oxen have all day furrowed the field,

  and gladly for him does the light of the sun go down

  that lets him, weary-kneed, head home for supper--

  so welcome to Odysseus was the arrival of sunset.

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  Then at once he addressed the Phaiakians, lovers of the oar,

  to Alkinoos above all declaring his mind, in these words:

  "Alkinoos, lord, most distinguished among all peoples,

  pour libations, give me safe escort--and farewell to you all!

  Each thing that my heart desired has already been arranged:

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  conveyance, and gifts of friendship--may the heavenly deities

  make these turn out well for me! When I get home

  may I find my wife truly faithful, my friends all safe and sound!

  And may you who remain here give delight to your wedded

  wives and children, may the gods grant you excellence

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  of every sort, may no ills ever come among your people."

  So he spoke. They all approved, and endorsed the order

  to give the stranger conveyance, since he'd spoken becomingly.

  Then mighty Alkinoos made a request to his herald, saying:

  "Pontonoos, mix us a bowl of wine and serve it to all

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  in the hall here, so we may pray to Zeus, the Father,

  and then give this stranger conveyance to his own country."

  So he spoke. Pontonoos mixed the mind-honeying wine

  and served it to all in turn. They poured libations,

  from where they sat, to the blessed gods who hold

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  broad heaven. Then noble Odysseus stood up,

  and placed the two-handled cup in Arete's hands,

  and addressed her with winged words, saying: "O queen,

  may you fare well, now and forever, until old age

  and death, all mortals' common lot, come on you!

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  I'm on my way now, and I wish you all joy in this house

  of your children and people, and of Alkinoos the king."

  So spoke noble Odysseus, and stepped out across

  the threshold, and mighty Alkinoos sent the herald with him

  as his escort, down to the swift ship and the sea,

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  while Arete sent serving women to accompany him,

  one bearing a fresh-washed mantle and tunic, another

  with orders to carry the close-packed chest, while a third

  brought the food and the red wine. When they arrived

  down by the ship and the sea, then quickly the noble

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  escorts took over these things and stowed them away

  in the hold of the vessel, all the food and drink.1

  For Odysseus they laid out a linen sheet and a blanket

  on the hollow ship's deck astern to let him sleep soundly.

  He now went aboard himself and lay down, not speaking.

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  The crew, each in his place, seated themselves at the rowlocks,

  and cast off the hawser from the hole in the stone post.

  They bent to their task then, flung up the brine with their oar blades,

  and sweet sleep dropped on Odysseus, shuttered his eyelids,

  sweet, deep, and sound, most closely akin to death.

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  The ship--like four yoked stallions on the plain

  that all spring forward together under the whip's strokes,

  and swiftly, high-stepping, gallop upon their way--

  likewise lifted her stern: in her wake there surged a wave,

  vast, dark-hued, of the roaring, many-voiced sea.

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  Safe and steady she ran--not even a falcon, the hawk

  that's swiftest of all winged creatures, could fly faster,

 
so quickly she sheared her way through the waves of the sea,

  bearing a man whose foresight matched that of the gods,

  who in the past had suffered many sorrows at heart

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  both in men's wars and while braving the cruel sea,

  but now slept undisturbed, his sufferings all forgotten.2

  At the time of that brightest star's rising, which most clearly

  comes to herald the light of Dawn,3 early risen, then it was

  that the seafaring vessel approached the island. There is

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  a certain harbor of Phorkys, that Old Man of the Sea,

  in the land of Ithake, with two protruding headlands,

  each broken off short, and each crouched facing the harbor,

  which they shield from those heavy waves whipped up outside

  by powerful gales, while the well-benched ships lie within

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  unmoored, once they reach their position for anchorage.

  At the head of the harbor there grows a long-leafed olive tree,

  and close to this is a cave, very pleasant and well-shaded,

  the sacred terrain of those nymphs who are known as Naiads.

  Inside it are mixing bowls and two-handled stone jars,

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  and there too is where the bees deposit their honey.

  In the cave there are long stone looms, at which the nymphs

  weave their webs of sea-purple, a wonder to behold.

  Springs, ever-flowing, are there, and the cave has two entrances,

  one facing the north wind, accessible to mortals,

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  but the other, looking southward, is sacred, and men

  do not use it: it is a pathway for the immortals only.4

  Here they put in--they knew the place well--and the ship

  ran half her whole length up the beach, so great was the speed

  at which she was driven on by the arms of the rowers.

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  Then, stepping ashore from the well-benched ship, they first

  lifted Odysseus out of the hollow ship, together

  with the linen sheet and bright blanket, laid him down,

  just as he was, on the sand, still fast asleep, and unloaded

  the goods that the noble Phaiakians had given him, through

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  great-hearted Athene's prompting, as he set out homeward.

  These things they left all together by the trunk of the olive tree,

  away from the path, for fear some other traveler might

  come upon them and filch them before Odysseus woke up.

  Then they took off back home. However, the Earth-Shaker

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  did not forget the threats he'd made earlier against

  godlike Odysseus, and now he questioned Zeus' purpose:

  "Zeus, Father, no longer among the immortal gods

  shall I be honored, when some mortals respect me not at all--

  the Phaiakians, even though they share my own ancestry!5

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  For lately I said that Odysseus would have a heap of trouble

  before he got home--though I did not wholly deprive him

  of his return: you'd promised that, sworn with your nod!

  Yet those men bore him sleeping in their swift ship over the deep,

  set him down on Ithake, gave him countless gifts--

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  bronze, and plentiful gold, and woven garments,

  more than Odysseus could ever have won from Troy

  had he come home unscathed, with his fair share of the spoils."

  Then Zeus, the cloud-gatherer, responded to him, saying:

  "Well, wide-powered Earth-Shaker, what a speech that was!

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  The gods do you no dishonor! A harsh business it would be

  to assail with demeaning slights our oldest and noblest!

  But if any mortal, misled by his own forceful power, fails

  to honor you, you can always be revenged on him hereafter.

  Do as you wish, whatever gives your heart pleasure."

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  Then Poseidon, Earth-Shaker, responded to him, saying:

  "I'd act at once, dark-clouded one, in the way you describe,

  but I always dread your wrath, and avoid it. Still, now I'd like,

  as that so-beautiful vessel of the Phaiakians comes

  back from its voyage as escort on the misty deep,

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  to smash it, make them desist, give up this conveyancing

  of people! And hide their city with a great encircling mountain.

  Then Zeus, the cloud-gatherer, responded to him, saying:

  "My brother, this, to my mind, seems your best way to act:

  When all the folk from the city are watching that ship

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  as she puts in, then turn her to stone, very close to land,

  a stone like the swift ship, so that all mankind may marvel.

  But don't6 hide their city with a great encircling mountain."

  Now when he heard this, Poseidon, the Earth-Shaker,

  went off to Scheria, where the Phaiakians dwell,

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  and waited there, until that seafaring ship came close

  inshore, moving fast. Then the Earth-Shaker approached.

  He turned her to stone, and rooted her deep below

  with one blow from the flat of his hand. Then he was gone.

  They exchanged winged words then, one to another, did

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  the long-oared Phaiakians, men renowned for their ships,

  and thus would one who'd seen it speak to his neighbor:

  "Ah me, who was it that fettered our swift ship in the sea

  on her homeward voyage, when she was in plain sight?"

  So would one speak. How it happened they had no idea.

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  But Alkinoos made them a speech on the subject, saying:

  "Well now, I do recall certain ancient predictions made

  by my father: he used to say that Poseidon was angry

  with us, because we give safe convoy to all and sundry.

  One day, he said, a most beautiful Phaiakian vessel

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  returning from escort duty out on the misty deep

  he'd strike, and hide our city with a great mountain round it.

  So said the old man, and now this is being fulfilled!

  So come, let us all agree to do as I bid: we must cease

  to provide conveyance for mortals, whenever a traveler

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  visits our city; moreover, we must sacrifice to Poseidon

  a dozen choice bulls, that he may have compassion for us

  and not hide our city with a great encircling mountain."

  So he spoke. They were terrified, got the bulls ready,

  and were all of them busy praying to the lord Poseidon,

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  all those leaders and counselors of the Phaiakians,

  standing around the altar, when noble Odysseus awoke

  from sleep in his native land, yet failed to recognize it,

  so long had he been away; for about him the goddess Pallas

  Athene, Zeus' daughter, had shed a mist, to make him

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  unrecognizable when she told him what was going on,

  and so that neither his wife nor the townsfolk nor his friends

  would know him until the suitors had paid the full price

  for their wrongdoing. Thus everything he saw seemed strange

  to their ruler--the unbroken paths, the bays with safe anchorage,

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  the steep rocky cliffs, the flourishing trees. So up he got,

  and stood there, gazing round at his own native land.

  After a moment he groaned, and struck both thighs

  with the flat of his hands, and sorrowfully exclaimed:

  "Alas, to w
hat mortals' country have I come this time?

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  Are they wild and savage, devoid of notions of justice,

  or hospitable to strangers, men with god-fearing minds?