Odysseus barely escapes with his life and washes ashore days later, half-drowned. But the raft on which he sets sail is destroyed by his enemy, the god Poseidon, who lashes the sea into a storm with his trident. Though the goddess isn't happy about it, she agrees to let Odysseus go. Zeus, the King of the Gods, sends his messenger Hermes skimming over the waves on magic sandals to Calypso's island. Menelaus did as instructed and was informed that Odysseus was presently being held against his will by the nymph Calypso. If they could hold him down while he transformed himself into various animals and shapes, he would send them on their homeward way and give news of their companions. He was advised by a goddess to disguise himself and three members of his crew in seal pelts and then pounce on the Old Man of the Sea. Menelaus tells what he learned of Odysseus while stranded in Egypt after the war. I'll lend you a chariot to travel to his kingdom." The rest of us made it home safely – all except Menelaus, who was blown off course to Egypt, where he remained for seven years. Half the army, your father included, stayed behind at Troy to try to appease her. Nestor tells what he knows of the Greeks' return from Troy: "It started out badly because of Athena's anger. Telemachus consults King Nestor, who led a contingent in the Trojan War when he was in his nineties. Afterwards Telemachus sets sail for the mainland to seek news of his father. Two eagles swoop down, tearing throats and necks with their talons. His son Telemachus calls an assembly to ask for help, and Zeus sends an omen of the suitors' doom. Meanwhile, the mansion of Odysseus is infested with suitors for the hand of his wife Penelope. Urged on by Athena, the goddess of war, they decide that Odysseus has been marooned too long on the island of the nymph Calypso. We are treated to a glimpse of life among the supreme gods on Mount Olympus. "Oh Goddess of Inspiration, help me sing of wily Odysseus, that master of schemes!" So Homer begins his epic, though the hero himself is still offstage. Here begins the tale of The Odyssey, as sung by the blind minstrel Homer. Now it was time for Odysseus and the other Greeks to return to their kingdoms across the sea. That night they emerged and opened the city gates to the Greek army. The Trojans had no idea that Greek soldiers were hidden inside, under the command of the hero Odysseus. In the tenth year of the Trojan War, the Greeks tricked the enemy into bringing a colossal wooden horse within the walls of Troy. Based on The Odyssey, Homer's epic from Greek mythology
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