The Trunk of the Olive Tree

Once the massacre had ended, only Odysseus, his son and Eumaeus remained. As for me and Brumuthamus, we will not be returning to this world in human form. As of now, we are frolicking with the gods in heaven above. Odysseus changed out of his ratty beggar clothes and went to meet his beloved wife. When he did this, Telemachus even said he thought Odysseus was a god, sent to earth in human form. When Odysseus reached Penelope, he was angered to find that she did not recognize him and didnt believe that he was her true husband, until she mentioned that their bed had been moved. Odysseus knew this was not possible because he had built that bed with his own two mighty hands into the trunk of an olive tree. He knew, because of this, the bed could not be moved. At that moment Penelope looked into this once beggar's eyes and saw her loving husband, Odysseus had finally returned home.

Sleep tight

Death in the Great Hall

We watched as Odyssey murdered each man one by one. It didnt even matter what they did, Odysseus always prevailed. Galantrutus realized that the gods were involved and there was no way we could possibly defeat Odysseus when he had this amazing power by his side. He shot us down until only a few remained, and his son was at his aid. Brumuthamus sat in the corner and waited to die, the future that is unevitable to him.

Funny Bunny

Test of the Bow

Death is an interesting thing. One day, we are the men of Odysseus, the next, somehow in another body, another mind, of a suitor. It is weird because when we entered these new bodies, we had an uncontrollable love and desire for Penelope and her crown. She proposed a contest for us. We had to string the great bow of Odysseus and shoot a single arrow through twelve axe-helve sockets. No mortal man except Odysseus could complete this task. We lost all hope of being with Penelope when she told us the test. She left the room to let us work out the shooting by ourselves. We watched as many men went up and failed at stringing the mighty bow. When it was almost Galantrutus's turn, an old beggar approached. He said he wanted to see if he still had some good aim in him, after all of his years. After some struggle, the two men who could string the bow, Eumaeus and Antinous, let the beggar try the bow. The shriveled man, who seemed to have an underlying strength, picked up the bow and handled with care. He ran his hands over it gently and slowly, tapping it as he went along. After several minutes, the bow was strung, and he made it look easy compared to the other men. He aimed, pulled back the string and released sending a single arrow piercing the air like a knife. It went through every socket with ease and stuck into the wall behind the axes. We all stood in awe at this great spectacle and I knew this was no beggar. This was Odysseus. No other man could manage this, so it had to be him. I was right.

DO IT YOURSELF!

Sea Perils and Defeat

After our perilous journey to the The Land of the Dead, where many terrifying spirits dwelled, we returned to Circe for advice. At night, Circe came to Odysseus while everyone was sleeping and took him to her quarters. He spent hours with her, words we tried to hear bbt could not because the walls were thick. He returned to us in the morning and told us about the magnificent creatures, called Sirens. They would tempt us with their voices, but betray us in the end by leading us to our doom. We set off to go home finally, and were approaching the place where the Sirens live. Odysseus came up to Brumuthamus and gave him a big wad of warm, sticky, thick, gooey, melty beeswax. He completely covered his ear, so much that I could not see it any longer. When he came up to me, the beeswax blocked every sound and I was enveloped in a sea of silence. Once all the mens' ears were covered, Brumuthamus tied Odysseus tightly to the mast to make sure he didnt run away with the Sirens when they started to sing their songs. I took my post and started rowing the boat with all my strength. I saw one absolutely beautiful woman laying naked on the rocks. Her eyes pierced my soul, and that alone made me want to be with her. If I had heard her voice, I know, that would have been the end. I would not have been able to resist. Once the Sirens were out of view, all the men took their beeswax off of their ears, and sound flooded our minds once again. Then, the most terrifying moment of our lives occured.

An enormous beast, with six heads and too many legs to count loomed over our heads. Its wriggling tentacles started plucking one man after another off of our strong ship. I watched as m best friends were flung into the air, screaming in terror, and I felt the blood drip on my face, as I continued to row for my life. Many men, gave up rowing to run around the ship, some even threw themselves overboard in some desperate attempt to escape the horrors of Scylla, but they too failed. Because in the sea another monster dwelled, Charybdis a massive whirlpool. Her might could swallow any ship in an instant. By some miracle, me, Brumuthamus and a few other men lived on. Odysseus, somehow not affected by this tragic disaster, wanted to go on sailing towards Ithaca! The nerve of that man! Thankfully, us men convinced him to land on Thrinacia, the island of the sun god, Helios. When we got there, many delicious cattle were roaming about, just trodding on their merry way unaware of the danger they faced when hungry men approach. Odysseus warned us again and again not to eat the cattle, but our stomachs said otherwise. We ate every last cow on that field and let me tell you, it was delicious. Then like a mighty, Helios appeared before, extremely angry that we had taken and eaten all of his cattle. Therefore, Zeus wanting to please him, sunk our ship with a powerful thunderbolt. Me, Brumuthamus and all the men, except the fool, Odysseus, died.

Whirlpool

The Grace of the Witch

On the ship, Odysseus was carrying a peculiar sac in which he would not reveal the contents. He told us one thing, never to open it. This drove our imagination wild and against his will, we opened it to find a powerful gust blowing us all around the sea. We landed on an island to the home of a witch, Circe, the goddess of enchantment. Many men have traveled there and few have returned from her bewitching power. We were split into two groups, one stayed with the ship and the other brave men went to the witch herself. Eurylochus warned us not to go, for she would cast a spell upon them. Although me and Brumuthamus agreed with him, our curiosity drove us to her doorstep. Even before we entered her household, we could hear her magnificent voice which calmed our souls and made us desire to go inside. She fed our hungry bodies and served us a warm rich wine, which made us sluggish. We couldnt see what was happening, until we were staring at the floor. I tried raising my head but it would not go any higher. Our feet felt hard and we looked down to see hooves instead of toes. We looked around the room to see all of our comrades were now squealing, squirming pigs.

I, Galantrutus, tried to scream in terror, but all that came out was a high pitched squeal that rang through the halls. I started running in circles in terror trying desperately to somehow return to my human form. Then the witch, Circe, came before us and herded us into a pen like the animals that we have now become. We waited in the darkness and finally after what seemed years, we saw Circe's face again and she brought us into her home, petting our heads and once again, we were men. Taller than before and as we looked into a mirror, we saw we looked much more handsome than before. Circe, who once treated us terribly, gave us robes and her servants bathed our tired bodies. We stayed there for a whole year, thinking we would never see home again. Odysseus was preoccupied with Circe while we were dying inside thinking of our families that we so desperately wanted to see. So, one day, I, Brumuthamus, decided to confront Odysseus with this problem, and i told him to stop thinking about Circe and start thinking about his men. To my suprise, he actually listened and with that, we were on our way to the Land of the Dead to meet up with a great prophet.

Mmmm...

New Coasts and Poseidon's Son

A week ago, we struggled with the sea. Our ship was almost overturned by the powerful waves. Poseidon must be angry with us, or perhaps, it is Calypso's rage. Never the less, we landed on a treacherous island with dangers lurking around every corner. We walked through the forest to discover a cave full of livestock and plenty of food. Our men were hungry and both of us agreed that we should take the livestock, whoever's it may be, and make a run for it. We proposed this plan to the rest of the men, but Odysseus intervened. He needed to satisfy his own desires and curiousity to see what creature lived in this cave.

So, starving and helpless to whatever comes back to this cave, we entered into the unknown. I slept restless that night, waiting for the beast or man to return home. This giant monster with only one eye that towered above us atleast 100 feet entered the dark lair. We cowered in the corner, but he spotted us and screamed in anger. A giant bellow that rung in my ears. He grabbed our best soldier, Potalur, and tore his body into many pieces throwing bits of human flesh across our petrified faces. He ate everything except the foot and threw it towards Odysseus, in a way of telling him who was in charge. This continued for several nights, until Odysseus tempted him with wine. That night, Odysseus came up with a plan, which all the men thought was ridiculous and foolish to attempt. But still we went charging with a large spear covered in burning embers, hurling it into the Cyclopes eye. Galantrutus ran the fastest away from the beast squirming in pain, to the safety of the far wall. Odysseus continued to wait, we did not understand why, why wasnt he getting us out of here faster? Why wasnt he bringing us home to our friends and to our family? But in the end, we got out alive.

Good Eatin'

A Goddess Intervenes

In the island of Ithaca, I witnessed the struggle of Odysseus trying to return to his family. The goddess, Calypso, however, had other plans for this wandering hero. She held him captive for many years, hoping one day, he would love her like she loved him. Odysseus was not pleased with this, and everyday he would beg her to return to his loving wife, Penelope and his son Telemachus. Although he loved his wife, his main ambition was to see his child. When he first left on his journeys, Telemachus was an wriggling infant. Many years he traveled, and for many years Calypso kept him with her. Calypso made many attempts to try and seduce Odysseus. At one point, Calypso was desperate and couldn’t for Odysseus’ love any longer. She spent many days composing a potion to make him fall in love with the first woman he laid eyes on.
While he was sleeping late at night she slipped the potion into his open mouth and waited for him to awaken.

At the crack of dawn Odysseus arose and found Calypso looking at him with longing eyes. For a moment he felt a warm rush of emotion flow through his body and Calypso’s face seemed to hypnotize him. But then he thought of his love, Penelope and Calypso’s face was nothing of worth to him. His heart belonged to Penelope and he started to long for her embrace. Calypso, smiled at Odysseus, thinking her plan had worked. But Odysseus leaped from his bed and screamed Penelope’s voice begging Calypso to set him free. Calypso then knew she could never have him and no potion would alter his love for Penelope. And so, after years and years of Odysseus begging, Calypso gave in, and released him to be with his beloved one.

Who are you?