This is an authentic, emotive read of one of my favourite books.
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The Odyssey written by Homer, narrated by Adam Shakin nosy book one. Athey visits Telemachus. Tell me muse the story of that resourceful man who was driven to wander far and wide after he had sacked the holy Citadel of Troy, he saw the cities of many people and he learned their ways. He suffered great anguish on the high seas in his struggles to preserve his life and bring his comrades home. But he failed to save those comrades in spite of all his efforts, it was their own transgression that brought them to their doom for in their folly. They devoured the oxen of hyperion, the Sun God. And he saw to it that they would never return. Tell us this story, goddess daughter of Zeus. Beginning at whatever point you will, all the survivors of the war had reached their homes by now. And so put the perils of battle and the sea behind them. Odysseus alone was prevented from returning to the home and the wife he yearned for by that powerful goddess, the nymph Calypso who longed for him to marry her and kept him in her vaulted cave. Not even when the rolling seasons brought in the year which the gods had chosen for his homecoming to Ithaca. Was he clear of his troubles and safe among his friends? Yet all the gods pitied him except Poseidon who pursued the heroic Odysseus with relentless malice till the day when he reached his own country, Poseidon, however, was now gone on a visit to the distant Ethiopians in the most remote part of the world. Half of whom live where the sun goes down and half where he rises. He had gone to accept a sacrifice of bulls and rams and there he sat and enjoyed the pleasures of the feast. Meanwhile, the rest of the gods had assembled in the palace of Olympians. Zeus and the father of men and gods opened a discussion among them. He had been thinking of the handsome whom Agamemnon framed son, arrestees killed. And it was with a, in his mind that Zeus now addressed the immortals. What a lamentable thing it is that men should blame the gods and regard us as the source of their troubles when it is their own transgressions, which bring them suffering. That was not their destiny. Consider it just this, it was not his destiny to steal Agamemnon's wife and murder her husband. When he came home. He knew the result would be utter disaster. Since we ourselves had sent Hermes, the keen eye giant slayer to warn him neither to kill the man nor to court his wife. Four arrestees as Hermes told him was bound to avenge Agamemnon. As soon as he grew up and thought with longing of his home, yet with all his friendly counsel, Hermes failed to dissuade him. And now a Justus has paid the final price for all his sins. The goddess of the flashing eyes. Athey answered him at once. Father of our son of Kronos king of kings. And just this end is just what he deserved. May all who act as he did share his fate. It is for Odysseus that my heart is run the wise and unlucky Odysseus who has been parted so long from all his friends and is pining on a lonely island far away in the middle of the seas. The island is well wooded and a goddess lives there. The child of malevolent Atlas who knows the depths of all seas and supports the great columns that hold earth and sky apart. It is his daughter who is keeping the unhappy man from his home grieving day after day. She does her best to banish Ithaca from his memory with soft persuasive words and Odysseus who would give anything for the mere sight of the smoke rising up from his own land can only yearn for death. Yet your Olympian heart is quite unmoved. Tell me, did the sacrifices he made you by the archives ships on the plains of Troy? Find no favor in your sight. Why are you at odds with Odysseus? Use nonsense. My child replied the gatherer of the clouds. How could I ever forget the admirable Odysseus? He is not only the wisest man alive but has been the most generous in his offerings to the immortals who live in the wide heaven. It is Poseidon sustainer of the earth who is so implacable towards him. On account of the Cyclops, Godlike polyphemus, the most powerful of the Cyclops who Odysseus blinded. His mother was the nym thus daughter of forces lord of the salt sea waves. And it was Poseidon who gave her this child when he slept with her in her caver hollowed by the sea. That is why ever since Polyus was blinded Poseidon, the earth shaker has kept Odysseus in exile though he stops short of killing him. But come. Now let all of us here together, contrive a plan to bring him home. Poseidon will relent for he will not be able to struggle on alone against the United will of the immortal gods. Bright eyed Athey answered him, father of ours son of Cronos king of kings. If it is now the pleasure of the blessed gods that the wise Odysseus shall return to Ithaca. Let us send our messenger, Hermes, the giant killer to the isle of so that he can immediately tell Calypso the nymph with the platted tresses of our unalterable decision that the patient Odysseus must now set out for home. Meanwhile, I myself will go to Ithaca to instill more spirit into Odysseus's son and encourage him to call the long haired Arcadians to an assembly and speak his mind to that crowd of suitors who spend their time in the wholesale slaughter of his jostling sheep and his shambling cattle with their twisted horns. After that, I shall send him to Sparta and to Sandy Palos to seek news of his father's return. It is possible that he may hear of him and so win the praise of men. This said Athey bound on her feet, her lovely sandals of un tash gold which carried her with the speed of the wind over the water or the unending land and seized her heavy spear with its point of sharpened bronze. The huge long spear with which she breaks the ranks of noble warriors. When she, the daughter of the mighty father is angry with them. She flashed down from the heights of Olympus and on reaching Ithaca, she took her stand on the threshold of the court in front of Odysseus's house. And to look like a visitor, she assumed the appearance of a family friend, the taff and chieftain mentors bronze spear in hand. She found the insulin suitor sitting in front of the door on hides of oxen. They themselves had slaughtered, playing with counters, their Squires and pages were busy around them. Some blending wine with water in the mixing bowls and others carving meat in lavish portions and wiping down the tables with sponges before they set them ready. The first to see her was tele the godlike youth who was sitting disconsolate among the suitors imagining how his noble father might come back out of the blue drive. The suitors headlong from the house and so regain his royal honors and reign over his own. Once more full of these visions, he caught sight of a and set off at once for the porch, ashamed that a stranger should be kept standing at the gates. He went straight up to the visitor grasped his right hand, took his bronze spear and gave him cordial greetings, welcome friend. He said, you can tell us what has brought you here. When you have had some food with this. He led the way and Pala Saini followed once inside the lofty hall, he took her spear and put it by one of the great pillars in a wooden rack among the many spears of the patient Odysseus. He then conducted her to a beautiful carved chair over which he spread a linen cloth and seated her there with a stool for her feet, for himself. He drew up an ornate easy chair. Well, away from the crowd of suitors for fear that his guest might take offense at the uproar and finding himself in such ill mannered company turned with distaste from his meal. Moreover, he wished to question him about his absent father. Presently, a maid came with water and a fine golden jug and poured it out over a silver basin for them to rinse their hands. She then drew a polished table to their side and the faithful housekeeper brought some bread and set it by them with a choice of delicacies helping them liberally to all she could offer. Meanwhile, a steward served them plates of various meats he had selected from his board and put gold cups beside him, which a steward filled with wine. As he passed on his frequent rounds, the suitor came swaggering in and sat down in rows on the seats and chairs. Their Squires poured water on their hands and the maids put piles of bread in bowls beside them. While the pages filled the mixing bowls to the brim with wine, they helped themselves to the good things spread before them. And when all had satisfied their hunger and thirst, the suitors turned their thoughts to other activities, music and dancing which add to the pleasures of a banquet. A Herald brought a beautiful liar and handed it to Mius, the minstrel whom they had forced into their service. He had just struck the first note for some delightful song. When Telemachus spoke to the bright eyed Athey with his head close to her so that the others could not hear friend. Will you be angry if I say something? How easy it is for that gang over there to think of nothing but music and songs. They are living free off another man. A man whose white bones are rotting in the rain upon some distant land or rolling in the sea salt waves, one glimpse of him in Ithaca. And they'd pray for a faster pair of legs rather than gold or rich clothes. But as it is, he has come to some dreadful end. No one on earth can bring us a spark of comfort by telling us that he'll come back that day is gone forever. But tell me honestly, who you are and where you come from. What is your native town? Who are your parents? And since you certainly cannot have come on foot, what kind of vessel brought you here? How did the crew come to you land you in Ithaca? And who did they claim to be? And tell me in truth, I'd like to know. Is this your first visit to Ithaca or has my father received you before? He used to entertain in our house? Just as often as he visited abroad. I will tell you everything honestly answered the bright eyed goddess Athey. My father was the wise prince ****. My own name is mentors and I am chieftain of the seafaring Taff. As for my arrival in Ithaca, I came with my own ship and crew across the wine dark sea. We are bound for the foreign port of Tessa with a cargo of gleaming iron which we mean to trade for bronze. My ship is not birth near the city but over there by the open country in Ron Cove under the woods of neon. As for our families, the ties between them go a long way back. As the old Lord Laertes would tell you if you went and asked him for, I gather that he no longer comes to the town but lives in a miserable existence on his distant farm with an old woman servant who puts his food and drink before him when he has tied himself out by dragging himself up and down his vineyard on the hill. The reason for my presence here is this, I actually heard that he was home. I mean your father, but the gods must be hindering his return because the good Odysseus is not dead but alive somewhere on this earth. He must be on some distant island out in sea in the hands of enemies. Savage is no doubt who keep him there by force. Now, I am no seer or so say, but I will venture on a prophecy to you which the immortal gods put into my mind. I am certain it will come true. Your father will not be exiled much longer from the land he loves so well. Not even if he's kept in iron chains, he will think of a way to return. He is endlessly resourceful. But are you really Odysseus son? How have you grown? You certainly have his head and fine eyes. The likeness is startling to one who met him. As often as I did though, that was before he and the other men of Argos set out for Troy and their hollow ships from that day to this Odysseus and I have never set eyes on each other. My friend answered the courteous dilemma because I will be honest too. My mother certainly says I am Odysseus son, but for myself, I cannot tell no man can be certain of his parentage. I only I was the son of some lucky man overtaken by old age among his own belongings as it is. Since you ask me, the man who so they say I am is the most unfortunate man that ever lived. And yet said the goddess of the flashing eyes with Penelope for your mother. I cannot think that your house is doomed to an inglorious future. But here is another matter. I should like you to explain what is the banquet for? Who are all these people? How are you concerned? Is it a private dinner or a wedding feast? Obviously, these men have not brought their own food at any rate. These banquet is in your house. Strike me as domineering and insolent. Any decent man would be disgusted at the site of such disgraceful behavior. My friend, the courteous tele replied, you may well ask there was a time when this house was by way of being prosperous and respectable when Odysseus was still among us. But since then, the gods have had other and more sinister designs. And they have served him as they have never served a man before. They have made him vanish his death itself. If he had fallen among his men at Troy, or died in friendly arms at home with all his fighting done would have caused me less distress. For in that case, the whole Akean nation would have joined in building him a mound. And we have, he would have left a great name for his son to inherit. But there was to be no famous end for him. The storm fiends have snatched him away. He has gone where he cannot be seen or found. And to me has left nothing but sorrow and tears. Nor is it only on his account that I am sighing and grieving for the gods have gone on piling other troubles on my head. All of the island chieftains in Cini in same and in wooded Zain. Thus all the nobles in rocky Ithaca. There is not one that isn't courting my mother and wasting my property as for her, though she hates the idea of remarrying, she cannot bring herself to take the final step of rejecting all the suitors or accepting one of them. Meanwhile, they are eating me out of house and home and they will very soon destroy me too. Palace Athena was moved. How disgraceful she cried. Oh, how you miss your father? How much you need him to lay hands on this dissolute mob, if only he could show himself at this moment at the palace gates with his helmet, his shield and his two spears just as he was when I first saw him drinking and in happy mood in our house. That time, he came up from a fear after a long visit to murmurous son, Ili, he had sailed there in search of a deadly poison to smear on the bronze tip of his arrows. And Ili, a God fearing man refused to supply him. But my father who loved him dearly gave it to him. Yes, if only Odysseus as he then was could confront these suitors, there'd be a quick death and a sorry wedding for them all. But such matters, of course, lie in the lap of the gods. They must decide whether or not he's to come back and settle accounts in his palace. Meanwhile, I do urge you to find some way of riding the house of these suitors. Listen carefully to what I suggest tomorrow morning, call the Akean lords to assembly and announce your decision to them all. Asking the gods to witness what you say, tell the suitors to leave and go home. As for your mother, if she is set on marrying, let her go back to her father's house. He is a man of consequence. And the family will arrange a marriage and see that she has a generous dowry as is only right for a beloved daughter for yourself. Here is my advice. It is sound and I hope you will take it, choose your best ship man her with 20 Osman and set out to inquire after your long absent father. Someone may be able to tell you about him or you may pick up one of those rumors from that is so often turned out to be true. Go to Pylos first and question the excellent nester. Then on to Sparta to see Orban hair menus since he was the last of the bronze armored Arcadians to reach home. If you hear that your father is alive and on his way back, you should reconcile yourself to a year more of this wastage. But if you hear that he is dead and gone, return to your own country, build a mound with all the proper funeral rites and give your mother in marriage to a new husband. This settled and done. You must think of some way of destroying this mob in your house, either by cunning or an open fight. You are no longer a child. You must put childish thoughts away. Have you not heard what a name Orestes made for himself in the world when he killed the cunning, ay for murdering his noble father, you my friend. And what a tall and splendid young man you have grown must be as brave as a then future generations will sing your praises. But my crew must be tired of waiting for me and I must now go to my good ship. I leave the matter in your hands. Think over what I have said, sir said, the thoughtful tele you have spoken to me out of the kindness of your heart, like a father talking to his son. And I shall never forget your words though. You are anxious to be on your way. Stay a little longer so that you can bathe and refresh yourself, then you can go to your ship in a happy frame of mind taking with you as a keepsake from myself, something precious and beautiful. The sort of present that one gives to a guest who has become a friend. No said the bright eyed goddess. I am eager to be on my way. Do not detain me. Now as for the gift, you kindly suggest, let me take it home with me on my way back, make it the best you can find and you won't lose by the exchange. The goddess spoke. And the next moment she was gone, vanishing like a bird, threw a hole in the roof into Lea's heart. She had implanted spirit and daring and had brought the image of his father to his mind even more strongly than before. He felt the change and was overcome with awe for. He realized a God had been with him. Then God like himself, he rejoined the suitors. He found them listening in silence to a song which their famous Bard was singing to them about the Kean's return from Troy and the disasters that palace made them suffer in her room. Upstairs Penelope, the gracious daughter of ICA took in the words of his stirring ballad and came down from her quarters by the steep staircase, not alone but with two waiting women in attendance. When she came near her suitors, the great lady drew a fold of her shining veil across her cheeks and took her stand by a pillar of the massive roof with one of her faithful maids on either side then bursting into tears. She broke in on the inspired minstrel. She said with your knowledge of the ballads that poets have made about the deeds of men or gods. You could enchant us with many other tales rather than this. Choose one of those now for your audience here and let them drink their wine in peace, but give us no more of your present song. It is too sad. It never fails to ring my heart for in that catastrophe. No one was dealt a heavier blow than I who passed my days in mourning for the best of husbands. The man whose name rings through the lands from to the heart of Argus. But the prudent Telemaco intervened, mother. He said, why grudge our loyal bar the right to entertain us? If the spirit moves him, surely. It is not the poets who are responsible for what happens. But Zeus himself who deals with each of us toilers on earth as he sees fit. We cannot blame Mius if he chooses to sing of the Dahan's tragic fate for it is always the latest song that an audience applauds the most. You must be brave and nerve yourself to listen for Odysseus is not the only one who has never returned from Troy. Troy was the end of many another man. So go to your quarters now and attend to your own work, the loom and the spindle and tell the servants to get on with theirs. Making decisions must be men's concern. And mine in particular for I am master in this house. Penelope was taken aback but she retired to her own apartments for she took her son's sensible words to heart, attended by her maids. She went upstairs to her bedroom and there she wept for Odysseus, her beloved husband till bright eyed Athey closed her eyes in sweet sleep. Meanwhile, in the shadowy hall, the suit has burst into uproar. Each man voiced a prayer that he might sleep with her. But the thoughtful tele has called them toward a gentleman. He cried from you who caught my mother. This is sheer insolence for the moment, let us dine and enjoy ourselves but quietly for it is a lovely thing to listen to a minstrel such as we have here with a voice like a God's. But in the morning, I propose that we all take our places in assembly so that I can announce my demand that you quit my palace. Yes, you can feast yourself somewhere else and eat your provisions in each other's homes. But if you think it has sound a scheme to destroy one man's estate and not make restitution, then eat your fill while I pray that Zeus will bring a day of reckoning. When in this house, I will destroy you and not make restitution. It amazed them all that tele should have the audacity to adopt this tone and they could only bite their lips. But at last, Antoninus efi the son spoke up in answer. It is obvious that the gods are teaching you this bold and haughty way of speaking, being your father's son, you are heir to this island realm. Heaven grant that you may never be its king. Anti the prudent dilemma has answered it may disappoint you to learn that I would gladly accept that office from the hands of Zeus. Perhaps you argue that nothing worse could happen to a man. I on the contrary, maintain that it is no bad thing to be a king to see one's house enriched and one's authority enhanced. However, the keens are not short of princes, young and old, they swarm in seat Ithaca. And since the Great Odysseus is dead, let one of them succeed him. But I intend at least to be master of my own house and the servants whom my royal father won for me in war this time it was Yuri Maa son of Poly buss who answered him? Tele, the gods must of course decide who is to be our king in seat Ithaca. But by all means, keep your own belongings and rule your own house. I pray that no one comes and lays violent hands on your property as long as there are people in Ithaca. But my dear Tele do tell us something about that guest of yours. Where did the man come from? What account does he give of his country? Who might his people be? And what is his native land? Does he bring news of your father's coming or is he here on business of his own? He looked distinguished, but he jumped up and was gone so suddenly that he gave one no time to get to know him. Yuri Maus, the sensible tele replied, it is certain that my father will never come back. So I no longer believe any rumors, whatever their source nor have I any use for the skill of such divine as as my mother may call in for consultation as for my guest, he is an old friend of my father from Taos. He introduced himself as the son of wise **** and chieftain of the seafaring Taian. This is what dilemma has said. But in his heart, he knew her for an immortal goddess. From then till dusk, they gave themselves up to the pleasures of dancing and delights of song. Nights fell and found them still reveling. But at last, they went off to bed each to his own house. Tele busy with his thoughts. Retired to his own bedroom, a lofty chamber in the fine courtyard with a clear view on every side. He was escorted by the faithful Euclea who carried a blazing torch. This Euclea was the daughter of Ops and granddaughter of P Laertes had procured her at his own cost long ago. And when she was still a girl for the price of 20 oxen, he had treated her in his home with all the respect due to a loyal wife though for fear of his wife's displeasure, he had not slept with her. It was she who now served as torch bearer to his grandson and she who of all the household women loved him most for she had nursed him as a child. Tele threw open the door of his solidly built room, sat down on the bed and took off his soft tunic which he put in the wise old woman's hands. After folding it and smoothing it out. She hung it on a peg by the wooden bedstead and withdrew from the bedroom, pulling the door too by the silver handle and shooting the bolt home by means of its leather thong. And there all the night long under his woolen blanket, Telemaco lay planning in his mind, the journey that Athey had suggested
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