Retold by: Ingrid Schmidt
Once there was a man named Odysseus. He was the king of Ithaca and his loyal wife by his side, Penelope. Odysseus was a hero of his whole town and everybody knew it. Everybody was kind to him….almost everybody.
Penelope was just about to give birth to a baby boy. Odysseus rushed over and saw his little boy being born. The first hands the boy fell into was Odysseus’. Penelope and Odysseus both decided to name their baby boy, Telemachus.
But poor Odysseus would not be able to see Telemachus grow up to be a man, for he had to go and fight the Trojans. So Odysseus made Penelope promise that if would not return until Telemachus had a beard, for her to remarry. Penelope agreed.
So off went Odysseus and his crew, to go and fight the Trojans. Athena approaches him and introduces all the crew men to him. Years past and thousands of men died, Trojans and Odysseus men.
Troy had taken over Odysseus’ men and him too. After many years of torture, Odysseus suddenly had a plan to defeat the Trojans. This was his plan: Odysseus and his men were to build a giant wooden horse with live soldiers inside.
So that is exactly what he did. He built a wooden horse and set it on the shores of Troy. The Trojans came out and saw the big horse and questioned each other about the strange gift…supposedly.
One of the men said, "No its a trap!" But of course no one believed him. But then suddenly a man popped out of the marsh and said, help the Greeks abandoned me here to die. But this horse is a gift for they accept the fact that you have won the war.
The king said just forget those awful Greeks, now you are one of us. So the Trojans brought the wooden horse into their walls and rejoiced that they had won the war.
When everybody was dead drunk, the man that came out of the marsh let out the soldiers in the horse. Odysseus and his men killed everybody in Troy and soon left. But before he left he said to Poseidon that he Odysseus man of many schemes had won the war without any gods help.
After hearing that, Poseidon got really angry and said Odysseus I will get you for that and from now on I will make you suffer. Odysseus and his men sailed off, but on their way they reached a waterfall. Odysseus got out of the boat and heard something, it was a voice coming from the waterfall.
Then the voice said come through the waterfall and you can see who I am. So that what Odysseus did and he found out that it was the god of the winds. Odysseus started to explain that he and his men were sailing some pretty harsh waves and they needed some help. The wind god happily gave Odysseus a bag of all the winds, for the wind creates the big waves.
Relieved that he was going to see his dear Penelope, Odysseus went under deck and slept peacefully. The crew men thought that the bag was full of gold and riches, but little did they know what was really inside!!
One of the men said, " Lets open the bag and lets just see what’s inside, its not like we are going to steal anything." Finally the men agreed and they opened the bag, the winds were flying everywhere and so were the men! Odysseus came back on the top deck and prayed to Athena so that the winds would die down.
Athena was nice enough to do so, even though the men had been foolish. Several men died from it but Odysseus thought that they deserved it. Since the winds were so powerful, it sent the boat and the men all the way back on the other side of the world.
10 years had past and Odysseus could totally tell that Poseidon was keeping his word and getting revenge on him, they continued anyway. Odysseus and his men thought that they would die from starvation, when suddenly they saw land and they docked the boat and got on land.
Odysseus told the men to go and find some food for all of them. The men started to climb the mountain to search for food. The rest of the men that were still at the bottom of the mountain, along with Odysseus, saw a pig running around! Odysseus screams, "Get the pig!!!" One of the men that went up to go and look for food came down and said, " Don’t eat the pig, its one of our men!" No one believed him for he was known to lie a lot.
Odysseus stops the men from chasing the pig, and told him that he would go up the mountain and see for himself what has happened to his other crew men.
On the way up the mountain Hermes meets up with him and makes Odysseus eat this plant, so that if Circe tries to turn him into an animal he wouldn’t be affected by her sorcery. Odysseus finally reaches the top and Circe approaches him and offers him wine. Odysseus takes the wine and drinks it, but when Circe sees that he is not harmed she gets really scared and makes him and offer. She says that she will let all his men go if he sleeps with her.
Odysseus accepts, for he truly wants his crew back. When he gets his crew back he tells Circe that he and his crew would like to leave, for it has been five days and he wants to reach home.
Circe tells him that it hasn’t been 5 days it has been 5 years!! Odysseus is amazed and asks her if she knew some one that knew how to get to Ithaca. She told him to go to Hedes and the men is there that knows the answers.
Odysseus gathers his crew men back up and sails towards Hedes. While they were sailing the men were constantly one the look out for land, when suddenly one of the men spotted land about 2-3 miles away.
Odysseus reaches land and sets off to go and look for something to eat. They reach a cave and enter it, not knowing what’s inside. Odysseus started to feel the ground rumbling and saw a huge giant standing at the doorway.
The men scrambled for their lives and hid from the hideous one eyed Cyclops. The Cyclops then says, " Who goes there?!" Odysseus jumps out and says, "It is I, no man." "That is your name?" Replied the Cyclops. Indeed it is, answers Odysseus.
So then Odysseus offers wine to the Cyclops and the Cyclops accepts it. " Odysseus this wine tastes like nectar from the gods." Well as you know Cyclops put a huge boulder in front of the cave that even about 15 men couldn’t move it.
Cyclops fell over dead drunk . This was Odysseus’ opportunity to kill Polythemus (Cyclops). His crew men help Odysseus sharpen a 6 foot long sick into a giant toothpick…….not really. Anyway, Odysseus got up on top of Polythemus and stabbed his one eye.
Odysseus and his men hid, while the Cyclops screamed out in pain. Cyclops screamed for help, his neighbors came in his cave and asked him, "Who did this to you?" Cyclops replied, " No man did this to me!!" Then if no man did this to you then you must be crazy, exclaimed the neighbors. The suggested that he was to pray to his father, Poseidon for help.
Cyclops went back to his cave as he felt his way around blinded. The next morning Cyclops was going to let his sheep go out to graze, but then Odysseus had a plan. His plan was to get underneath a sheep and get out of the cave. So every man got underneath a sheep and got out of the cave safely.
Odysseus and his men got to their boat and took his sheep with them for food. As they were sailing away Odysseus yelled to Polythemus," It is I, Odysseus, man of many schemes who blinded you!!!!!!" Later on Cyclops prayed to his father Poseidon, so that he would not let Odysseus return home alive.
Once they reached Hedes, Odysseus told his men to wait while he went to go and find the man who would tell them how to get home. Odysseus walked into the hall of the dead and the dead were scaring and taunting poor Odysseus.
Finally Odysseus reached this underground place with a stream of lava flowing by it. He asked the man how to get home and he told Odysseus. But he warned him that on his way there would be an island of singing women. So he told Odysseus to put soft wax in his crew men’s ears so that they would not hear the beautiful women singing.
There would also be a cave with a monster in it, name Scilla. And at the end of the cave there would be a whirlpool, so he and his men would have to be extra careful.
So of went Odysseus’ men to go and find their home, Ithaca. When they reached the cave of Scilla, they rowed the boat very cautiously. Then out of no where Scilla ate two men, and then another 2 men. The men rowed for their lives.
When they reached the end of the cave there was a big drop and the boat with the men fell down, except Odysseus. He was holding onto branch above him. Then he dropped onto a log and floated upon a shore of an island of beautiful girls.
The girls tended to his wounds and treated him kindly. Odysseus stayed there for about 1 year or so. But when Hermes came to the queen of the island, and told her if she won’t let Odysseus go then the gods will send her island to the bottom of the sea, and kill everybody on it.
So the queen offered Odysseus a boat he can leave in, then she asked him if he really wanted to go. Odysseus answered that he truly wanted to see his one and only Penelope.
He accepted the boat and went off to his dear Penelope. When he finally reached Ithaca, he stopped at the place where Telemachus was born. The owner of the little shack was still alive and he recognized Odysseus. He gave Odysseus a place to sleep, but in the morning Telemachus came by and saw him. He asked, "Who are you?" " I’m your father." Telemachus did not believe him, for many men told him that his father was dead.
Odysseus showed him proof and together they sobbed in each others arms. They got to know each other a little better and Telemachus offered to take his father to his house. On the way Telemachus told Odysseus what was now happening. Such as many men were trying to get Penelope to marry him.
Later that day Athena turned Odysseus into an old beggar, because many men wanted to kill him if they ever saw him again. So Telemachus welcomed Odysseus in the house (Athena made it so that Telemachus would only be able to see the true Odysseus).
Telemachus already had a beard and Penelope had to keep her promise, so she set up a challenge for the men. It was: All the men were to gather in this room and string this bow and shoot it through about 14-15 little holes.
Everybody knew that only Odysseus could do it. But every man that wanted to marry Penelope was to get in that room. The beggar (Odysseus) entered in the room too.
All the men tried to string the bow, but none of them could. So then Odysseus gave it a try, he strung the bow, now he had to shoot it through the little holes. He made it!! At that very moment he turned into his normal self. Everybody was astonished, then the doors were locked. And the windows shut. Odysseus grabbed a sword and the men pleaded for their life but Odysseus took to apologies that time.
The men asked Odysseus what they have done, and Odysseus answered, " First of all you tried to take away my dear Penelope, then you trashed my house, and you even tried to kill my own son!"
Telemachus and Odysseus killed every single man in that room and they forebid any one to go in there again. Odysseus and Penelope were reunited and they ruled Ithaca together in happiness,
THE END