12/30/2023 0 Comments Kingdom of the dead odysseusHe was a good man, and he honoured the Greek tradition of giving food and shelter to strangers. Odysseus recognised the man as his old servant, Eumaeus. “You should be more careful,” he scolded, “for the gods would be angry with me if my dogs ripped apart an innocent stranger – if you are, indeed, an innocent stranger.” They were about to tear at his limbs – a fine welcome home – but just in time the keeper appeared and called them off. ![]() As he approached the hut of the pigs’ keeper, some fierce dogs rushed out at him. He came to the part of the island where pigs were kept. Wearing this disguise, he climbed up a rough path. There he hid his sea chest in a secret cave and wrapped himself in beggar’s rags. After 20 years away, he was far from certain what sort of welcome he would receive and so he asked to be put on shore in a quiet harbour, away from the town. The ship carried Odysseus home to his rocky kingdom on the island of Ithaca. He then ordered a ship to be made ready to take him home - he filled a sea chest for him with rich gifts: sumptuous robes, a golden cauldron, and a handful of jewels. When the king learned that their guest was Lord Odysseus on his way home from Troy, he prepared a great feast in his honour. The princess led the stranger to her father. The people of the island respected all who risked their lives at sea. ![]() My crew are drowned and I have lost everything.”įor once, the long suffering Odysseus was in luck. My ship was wrecked in the great storm last night. The stranger replied, “Princess, your beauty is so great – are you a goddess or a mere mortal? In either case, I stand here at your mercy. The servant girls let out squeals when they saw him – but Princess Nausicaa calmly asked him who he was and how he came to be there. He clambered out of the bushes, covering his naked, sea-tossed body with leafy branches. The maids shrieked with laughter, and their cries awoke the sleeping warrior. They were all playing with a ball, and it splashed into a swirling pool of the river. ![]() It just so happened that the King’s daughter, the lovely Nausicaa, had come down to the river with her maids. The island was ruled by wealthy, seafaring people. He managed to crawl to some bushes by the mouth of the river, and there he fell into a deep sleep. All his crew were drowned, but he was washed ashore, half dead. When we last left Odysseus, his ship had been wrecked by a storm. The cleverest of the Greeks, the wily, red-headed Odysseus spent ten more years sailing home to his lovely Queen Penelope. King Agamemnon went home to his Queen, the evil Clytemnestra – and while he was relaxing in his bath, she plunged a dagger into him. Proofread by Claire Deakin, December 2013.Īfter the war ended, not all the Greeks enjoyed a pleasant homecoming. We round off the tale with some moving verses from Ulysses by Alfred Lord Tennyson. ![]() This story is full of both exciting fights and touching moments of recognition - none more so than when the faithful dog Argos, lying on dung heap, senses his master. He and his son Prince Telemachus plot a fearful revenge. He arrives on his rocky island kingdom of Ithaca disguised as a beggar and finds that his palace is full of suitors wooing his wife, the faithful Queen Penelope. The final part in our series about the Trojan War brings our ship-wrecked hero, Odysseus back home after 20 long years away.
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