Odysseus’s men had just been waiting for a sanction like this. They killed some of the best animals and slaughtered them. First, the sacrifice to the gods was made and then, the men started a fire to cook the flesh.
As the aroma from the roasted
flesh rose up in the sky and filled the place, Odysseus came back from his
short trip. “Hmm…. the smell of flesh cooking on the fire. It’s been a long
time since this happened! But how could it be? Not a slice of meat is left in
the stores.”
He rushed ahead and was horrified
to see what his men were doing. “How could you do this after all my warnings? Didn’t
I tell you not to kill any of the animals here? Now, not even the gods can
guard us from the wrath of Helios. Oh no! Why did the gods take me away from
here and put me to sleep?” he lamented. But the men continued slaying and
skinning the cattle as if they had not heard him.
Meanwhile, the sun god’s chief
herdswoman reported to him. “O Helios, the life-giver of all! The mortal
Odysseus and his men have butchered your best cattle. There was no way I could
stop them,” she said.
Helios was furious. He wanted to
revenge the loss of his property. He went straight to Zeus, the king of gods
and said, “Odysseus and his men have stolen and slaughtered the cattle that is
dear to me. If they are not severely punished for this heinous crime, I shall
go to the land of the dead and shine on them. And I shall not turn my face towards
you, the immortal gods, or the earth.”
Zeus pacified Helios and promised
to punish Ulysses. Soon, portents of the wrath of the gods that was to visit on
the men appeared everywhere. The hides of the slaughtered cattle began to crawl
on the ground; the flesh on the spits began to bellow like live cattle. But the
men did not notice any of these and went about their revelry. For, six days
they ate the flesh and had fun. All that Odysseus knew that the gods would not
be silent. But all that he could do was keep away from the ongoing events.
After that, the wind turned
favourable. And the men made arrangements fro sailing. When they were in the
middle of the sea and no land was in sight, dark clouds rallied above their
heads and a terrible storm brewed. But soon, Zeus the king of gods hurled a
thunderbolt on the vessel and smashed it to smithereens. Odysseus managed to
hold the mast and keel of the ship by binding them together with a length of
hide. A southerly wind pushed him and the vessel in the direction of the two
monsters Scylla and Charybdis, whom he had successfully evaded only a month
back.
He noticed that Charybdis was
sucking in the sea water. he quickly reached fro a wild fig tree and hung on to
it. He saw his vessel being sucked in by Cahrybdis and waited for her to spew
it out. And it was pretty difficult to hang from the branch fo the tree without
any suppoet to plant his feet on or anyway to even climb up the tree. It seemed
to take ages for the vessel to come out. When the monster regurgitated the
vessel, Odysseus mounted it and paddled away with his hands. After nine days in
the ocean he reached the island of Ogygia,w here lived Calypso, the daughter of
Oceanus or Atlas. She was a goddess who was terrible and beautiful and who
could sepak the language of man.
She lived in a cave on the island,
which was populated by alder, black poplar and cypress trees. Owns, falcons and
sea crows lived there. A beautiful grape vine, with clusters of ripe fruit,
entwined the gaping mouth of the cave.
(To be continued)
- The Adventures of Odysseus - An Introduction
- The Adventures of Odysseus - 1
- The Adventures of Odysseus - 2
- The Adventures of Odysseus - 3
- The Adventures of Odysseus - 4
- The Adventures of Odysseus - 5
- The Adventures of Odysseus - 6
- The Adventures of Odysseus - 7
- The Adventures of Odysseus - 8
- The Adventures of Odysseus - 9
- The Adventures of Odysseus - 10
Painting: The companions of Odysseus rob the cattle of Helios by Pellegrini Tiballdi (1527-1596)
