THE
ADVENTURES OF ULYSSES
_THE WANDERER_
An Old Story Retold by
C. RANGER-GULL
AUTHOR OF
"THE HYPOCRITE," "FROM THE BOOK
BEAUTIFUL," "BACK TO LILAC LAND,"
ETC.
Illustrated
BY
W. G. MEIN
London
GREENING AND COMPANY, LTD.
20 CECIL COURT, CHARING CROSS ROAD
1902
BY THE SAME AUTHOR
THE HYPOCRITE.
Seventh Edition. 2s. 6d.
BACK TO LILAC LAND.
Second Edition. 6s.
MISS MALEVOLENT.
Second Edition. 3s. 6d.
THE CIGARETTE SMOKER.
Second Edition. 2s. 6d.
FROM THE BOOK BEAUTIFUL.
Being Old Lights Re-lit. 3s. 6d.
IN PREPARATION.
THE SERF. A Tale of the Times of
King Stephen.
HIS GRACE'S GRACE. A Story
of Oxford Life.
[Illustration: HE STARED STEADILY AT THEM WITH HIS SINGLE EYE
FOR A FULL MINUTE.
_Page 32._
_Frontispiece._]
TO
HERBERT BEERBOHM TREE
IN APPRECIATION OF HIS SCHOLARSHIP
IN ADMIRATION OF HIS ART
TO ONE OF THE FEW GREAT ARTISTS
WHO HAS NEVER BEEN UNTRUE
TO THE HIGHEST IDEALS OF HIS CALLING
AND IN SPECIAL MEMORY
OF THE FIRST NIGHT OF "HAMLET"
AT MANCHESTER
CONTENTS
PAGE
Foreword 9
Brief Account of Principal Characters
in the Odyssey 13
The First Episode--How They blinded the
Son of Poseidon 21
The Second Episode--The Adventure of
the Palace in the Wood 39
The Third Episode--How Ulysses walked
in Hell, and of the Adventure of
the Sirens and Scylla 48
The Fourth Episode--How Ulysses lost
his Merry Men and came a Waif to
Calypso with the Shining Hair 63
The Last Episode--How the King came
Home again after the Long Years 80
A Note on Homer and Ulysses 98
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
HE STARED STEADILY AT THEM WITH HIS
SINGLE EYE FOR A FULL MINUTE _Frontispiece_
THEN HE CAME SWIFTLY UPON THE
GLEAMING PALACE _facing page_ 45
THEN HE WAS, IN AN INSTANT MOMENT,
AWARE OF A MORE THAN MORTAL PRESENCE " 49
THEY CAME TO THE BRINK OF THE RIVER " 52
"WHO AM I THAT I CAN COMBAT THE
WILL OF ZEUS OR THE HARDNESS OF
YOUR HEART?" " 78
"NAY, IF YOU LOVE ME," HE SAID, "NONE
OF THAT, MY FRIEND" " 83
FOREWORD
Seven fair and illustrious cities of the dim, ancient world, Argos,
Athenæ, Chios, Colophon, Salamis, Rhodos, Smyrna, fought a war of
words over HOMER'S birthplace.
Each claimed the honour.
And if, indeed, such an accident of chance confers an honour upon a
town, then the birthplace of the Greatest Poet of all time should be a
place of pilgrimage.
For, among the weavers of Epos, Drama, and Romance, he who was called
Melesegenes is first of all and wears an imperishable crown.
For 3000 years his fame has streamed down the ages.
The world has changed. Great empires have risen, flowered and passed.
Christianity came, flooding mankind with light, at a time when, though
Homer was a dim tradition, his work was a living force in the world.
When Christ was born, Homerus was dead 900 years.
A man with such immensity of glory ceases to be a man. He becomes a
Force.
Of the two imperishable monuments Homer has left us, the decision of
critical scholarship has placed the _Iliad_ first. It has been said
that the _Iliad_ is like the midday, the _Odyssey_ like the setting
sun. Both are of equal splendour, though the latter has lost its
noonday heat.
But I would take that adroit simile and draw another meaning from it.
When deferred, expected night at last approaches, when the sun paints
the weary west with faëry pictures of glowing seas, of golden islands
hanging in the sky, of lonely magic waterways unsailed by mortal
keels; then, indeed, there comes into the heart and brain another
warmth,--the mysterious quickening of Romance.
For I think that the ringing sound of arms, the vibrant thriddings of
bows, the clash of heroes, are far less wonderful than the long,
lonely wanderings of Ulysses.
Through all the _Odyssey_ the winds are blowing, the seas moaning, and
the estranged sad spectres of the night flit noiselessly across the
printed page.
Through new lands, among new peoples--friends and foes--touching at
green islands set like emeralds in wine-coloured seas, the immortal
mariner moves to the music of his creator's verse. The Sirens' voices,
the Fairy's enchanted wine, the Twin Monsters of the Strait pass and
are forgotten.
His wife's tears bid him ever towards home.
I sometimes have wondered if Vergil thought of Ulysses when he made
his own lesser wanderer say:--
"Per varios casus per tot discrimina rerum,
Tendimus in Latium, sedes ubi fata quietas
Ostendunt."
And now, since we are to have, on that so magical a stage, a concrete
picture: since we are to take away another storied memory from beneath
the copper dome, I feel that the story of Ulysses may once more be
told in English.
A fine poet, a great player, are to give us an Ulysses who must
perforce be not only full of the spirit of his own age of myth, but
instinct with the spirit of this.
That is as inevitable as it is interesting.
The "Gentle Elia" (how one wishes one could find a better name for
him--but custom makes cowards of us all) has written his own version
of the _Odyssey_. I cannot emulate that. But I think I can at least be
useful.
There are three stages of knowing Homer: the time when one dog's ears
and dogrells him at school, the time when one loves him, a literary
love! at Oxford, and the time when the _va et vient_ of life in great
capitals wakes the dormant Ulysses in the heart of every artist, and
he begins to understand.
"The long day wanes: the slow moon climbs: the deep
Moans round with many voices. Come, my friends,
'Tis not too late to seek a newer world.
Push off, and sitting well in order smite
The sounding furrows; for my purpose holds
To sail beyond the sunset----"
_C. RANGER-GULL._
A BRIEF ACCOUNT
OF THE
PRINCIPAL CHARACTERS IN THE WANDERINGS OF ULYSSES, ACCORDING TO THE
ANCIENT WRITERS AND LEGENDS.
ULYSSES. The hero of Homer's great poem was known to the Greeks under
the name of Odysseus. He was king of the pastoral islands of Ithaca
and Dulichium. Most of the petty Greek chieftains became suitors for
the hand of the beautiful Helen, and Ulysses was among the number, but
withdrew when he realised the smallness of his chances. He then
married Penelope, the daughter of Icarius, and at the same time joined
with the other unsuccessful lovers of Helen in a sworn league for her
future protection should she ever stand in need of it. He then
returned to Ithaca with his bride. The rape of Helen soon compelled
him to leave Penelope and join the other Grecian princes in the great
war against Troy. He endeavoured to avoid the summons by pretending
madness. Yoking a horse and a bull together, he began to plough the
sands of the sea shore. The messenger who was sent to him took
Telemachus, the infant son of Ulysses, and placed the child in the
direct course of the plough, in this way circumventing his design.
Ulysses was one of the most prominent figures during the Trojan war,
his valour, and still more his cunning, making him of supreme
importance in the councils of the princes. After the Trojan war
Ulysses set sail for home, and at this period of his career the story
of the _Odyssey_ begins. He was driven by malevolent winds on to the
shores of Africa, where he and his mariners were captured by the
one-eyed giant, Polyphemus, who ate five of the band. Ulysses escaped
by thrusting a stake into the giant's eye and then leaving the cave in
which he was confined by crawling under the bellies of the sheep when
the Cyclops led them to pasture. He next arrives at Æolia, and Æolus
gave him, imprisoned in bags, all the evil winds which were likely to
obstruct his safe return homewards. The sailors, curious to know what
the bags contained, opened them, and the imprisoned winds, rushing out
with fearful violence, destroyed the whole fleet save only the vessel
which bore Ulysses. The ship was thrown on the shores of the Goddess
Circe's enchanted island, and the companions of Ulysses were changed
into swine by the enchantress. Ulysses escaped the like fate by means
of a magic herb he had received from Mercury, and forced the goddess
to bring his friends to their original shape. He then yielded to her
solicitations and made her the mother of Telegonus. The next stage of
his adventures brings him to Hades, where he goes to consult the shade
of the wise Tiresias as to the means of reaching home in safety. He
passes the terrible coasts of the Sirens unhurt, and escaped the
monsters Scylla and Charybdis by a series of narrow chances. In Sicily
his sailors, urged by extreme hunger, killed some of Apollo's cattle,
and the Sun-God in revenge destroyed all his companions and also his
ship. Ulysses alone escaped on a raft and swam to the shores of an
island belonging to Calypso, with whom he lived a lotos life as
husband for seven years. The gods eventually interfered, and Ulysses,
once more properly equipped, set out on his travels again. However,
Neptune (Poseidon), the lord of the sea, still remembered the injury
done to his son, the giant Polyphemus, and wrecked this ship also.
Ulysses was cast up on the island of the Phoeacians, where he was
hospitably received by King Alcinous and his daughter the Princess
Nausicaa, and at last sent home in safety to his own kingdom after an
absence of more than twenty years. The Goddess Athene befriended him,
and informed him that his palace was crowded with debauched and
insolent suitors for the hand of Queen Penelope, but that his wife was
still faithful and unceasingly mourned his loss. Adopting the advice
of the goddess, he disguised himself in rags to see for himself the
state of his home. He then slew the suitors and lived quietly at home
for the remaining sixteen years of his adventurous life. Tradition
says that he at last met his death at the hands of his illegitimate
son Telegonus.
PENELOPE. A famous Græcian princess, wife of Ulysses. She married at
about the same time that Helen wedded King Menelaus, and returned home
to Ithaca with her husband against the wishes of her father Icarius of
Sparta. During the long absence of Ulysses she was besieged by suitors
for her hand, who established themselves in the palace. She became
practically their prisoner, and was compelled to dissimulate and put
them off by various excuses. She managed to keep her importunate
guests in some sort of good humour by giving out that she would make a
choice among them as soon as she had completed a piece of tapestry on
which she was engaged. Each night she undid the stitches she had
worked in the daytime. On the return of Ulysses she was, of course,
freed from the suitors by her husband. According to some ancient
writers, after the death of Ulysses she married Telegonus, Ulysses'
son by the Goddess Circe. Her name Penelope sprung from some
river-birds who were called "Penelopes."
TELEMACHUS. The son of Ulysses and Penelope. When his father left for
the Trojan war Telemachus was but an infant, but at the close of the
campaign he went to seek him and to obtain what information he could
about his father's absence. When Ulysses returned home in disguise
Athene brought son and parent together, and the two concerted means to
rid the palace of the suitors. After the death of Ulysses, Telemachus
is said to have gone to the island of Circe and married the
enchantress, formerly his father's mistress. A son called Latinus
sprung from this union.
ATHENE (Minerva). The Goddess of Wisdom was born from Zeus' brain
without a mother. She sprang from his head in full armour. She was the
most powerful of the goddesses and the friend of mankind. She was the
patroness of Ulysses, and it was believed she first invented ships.
Her chastity was inviolable. Her worship was universal.
ZEUS (Jupiter). Chief of all the gods. His attitude towards Ulysses
was friendly owing to the persuasion of his daughter Athene.
POSEIDON (Neptune) was the Sea God and next in power to Zeus. He was
the father of the giant Polyphemus whom Ulysses blinded, and is the
consistent enemy of Ulysses throughout the whole _Odyssey_. Neptune
was the brother of Zeus.
HERMES (Mercury) was the messenger of the gods and a son of Zeus. He
was especially the patron of travellers and well disposed to Ulysses.
TIRESIAS was in life a celebrated soothsayer and philosopher of
Thebes. His wisdom was universal. Having inadvertently seen the
Goddess Athene bathing in the fountain of Hippocrene, he was blinded.
Ulysses visited his spirit in Hades, in order to obtain his advice as
to the journey homewards to Ithaca.
CIRCE. An enchantress celebrated for her knowledge of the magic
properties of herbs. She was of extreme personal beauty. In girlhood
she married the prince of Colchis, whom she murdered to obtain his
kingdom. She was thereon banished to the fairy island of Ææa. When
Ulysses visited her shores she changed his companions into swine, but
Ulysses was protected by the magic virtues of a herb called _moly_.
Ulysses spent a year in the arms of Circe, and she gave birth to a son
called Telegonus.
CALYPSO. One of the daughters of Atlas, was known as the
"bright-haired Goddess of Silence," and was queen of the lost island
of Ogygia. Ulysses spent seven years with her, and she bore him two
sons. By order of Zeus, Hermes was sent to the island ordering Ulysses
to leave his voluptuous sloth, and Calypso, who was inconsolable at
his loss, was forced to allow him to depart. The legend runs that the
goddess offered him the gift of immortality if he would remain with
her.
SCYLLA and CHARYBDIS. Scylla was a terrible female monster who
devoured six of Ulysses' crew, though the hero himself escaped her.
Below the waist she was composed of creatures like dogs who never
ceased barking. She was supported by twelve feet and had six different
heads. The monster dwelt in a cave under the sea on one side of a
narrow strait off the coast of Sicily. On the other side of the strait
was the great whirlpool CHARYBDIS. It was invested with a personality
by Homer, and Charybdis was said to be a giantess who sucked down
ships as they passed.
THE SIRENS. Monsters with sweet alluring voices who inhabited a small
island near Sicily. They had bodies like great birds, according to
some writers, with the heads of beautiful women. Whosoever heard their
magic song must go to them and remain with them for ever. Ulysses
escaped the enchantment by causing himself to be bound to the ship's
mast.
POLYPHEMUS. The son of Poseidon. He was the giant king of the
Cyclopes who were workers in the forge of Vulcan and made armour for
the gods. Ulysses and his companions blinded him in order to escape
from the cavern where he had imprisoned them.
ANTINOUS. A native gentleman of Ithaca, one of Penelope's most
persistent suitors. When Ulysses came home disguised as a beggar
Antinous struck him. He was the first to fall by Ulysses' bow.
EURYCLEA. The nurse of Ulysses in his infancy, and one of the first to
recognise him on his return from his wanderings. She was in her youth
the lovely daughter of Ops of Ithaca.
EUMÆUS. The herdsman and steward of Ulysses who knew his master on his
return after an absence of twenty years. He was the king's right-hand
man in the plot against, and fight with, the suitors of Penelope.
THE ADVENTURES OF ULYSSES
THE FIRST EPISODE
HOW THEY BLINDED THE SON OF POSEIDON
A warm mild wind, laden with sweet scents, blew over the sailors from
the island, which now lay far astern.
In the weary west the charmed sunset still lingered over Lotus Land.
A rosy flush lay on the snow-capped mountains which were yet spectral
in the last lights of the day, but looking out over the bows the sky
was dark purple changing into black, and where it met the sea there
was a white gleam of foam.
The companions of Ulysses sat idle from the oars, for the wind filled
the belly of the sail and there was no need for rowing. A curious
silence brooded over them all. No one spoke to his fellow. The faces
of all were sad, and in the eyes of some the fire of an unutterable
regret burnt steadily.
The heads of all were turned towards the island, which was fast
disappearing from their view. Some of the men shaded their eyes with
their hands in one last long look of farewell.
As the curtain of the dark fell upon the sea, the warm offshore wind
died away. A colder breeze, full of the sea-smell itself, came down
over the port bow; it moaned through the cordage, and little waves
began to hiss under the cutwater.
Every now and again the wind freshened rapidly. The mournful whistling
became a sudden snarling of trumpets. The ship and crew seemed to have
passed over the limits of a tableau. Not only was it a quick elemental
change of scene, but the change had its influence with the spectators.
The sad fire--if the glow of regret is indeed a fire--died out of
heavy eyes half veiled by weary lids. The sea-light dawned once more
upon the faces of the mariners, the bright warm blood moved swiftly in
their veins.
One man ran to the steering oar to give an aid to the helmsman as the
ship went about on the starboard tack, three more stood by the sheet,
a hum of talk rose from the waist of the boat. Ulysses stood in the
bows looking forward into the night. His tall, lean figure was bent
forward, and his arm was thrown round the gilded boss of the prow. His
eyes were deep set in his head, and his brow was furrowed with the
innumerable wrinkles which come to the man who lives a life of
hardship and striving.
Yet the long years of battle and wandering, a life of shocks! had only
intensified the alertness of his pose. He seemed, as he looked out
into the night, a personification of "readiness." A crisp dark beard
grew round his throat, and the veins on his bare brown arms were like
blue enamel round a column of bronze.
When the ship went about again he came down into the body of the ship
and helped to pull upon the brace. Though he was no taller than many
of his men, and leaner than most, in physical strength as well as in
intellect he was first and chief. The mighty muscles leapt up on his
arms as he strained on the taut rope.
The ship slanted away down the wind into the night. The men gathered
round their captain. "Comrades," he said to them in a singularly sweet
and musical voice, "once more we adventure the deep, and no man knows
what shall befall us. To our island home in the west, to dear Ithaca!
if the gods so will it. Our wives weep for us on our deserted
hearthstone. Our little ones are noble youths ere now, and may Zeus
bring us safe home at last. Yet much it misdoubts me that there are
other perils in store for us ere we hear the long breakers beat upon
the shores of Ithaca and see the morning sun run down the wooded sides
of Neriton. Be that as the Fates will it, let us keep always courage,
gaiety, and the quiet mind."
"We are well away from there," said one of the men, nodding vaguely
towards the stern.
"That are we," said another; "that cursed fruit is honeysweet in my
mouth still. It stole away our brains and made us as women, we! the
men who fought in Troyland."
"Of what profit is it to look to the past, Phocion?" said Ulysses. "We
did eat and sleep and forget, but it is over. The sea wind is salt
once more upon our faces. Let us eat the night meal, and then I will
choose a watch and the rest may sleep. Hand me the cup--To to-morrow's
dawn!"
Then one of the sailors took dried goat's flesh and fruit from a
locker in the stern, and by the light of a torch of sawn sandal wood
they fell to eating. Great bunches of purple grapes lay before each
sailor, but they had brought none of the magic lotus fruit with them
to steal away their vigour and thicken their blood.
Then they lay down to sleep under coverings of skins. Two men went to
the great steering oar, three men watched amidship by the braces, and
Ulysses himself wrapped a woollen cloak round him and went once more
into the bows.
Alone there with the wind his thoughts once more went back to his far
distant home. He thought with longing of his old father Laertes, of
the child Telemachus playing in the marble courtyard of the sunny
palace on the hill. A deep sigh shuddered out from his lips as his
thoughts fell upon the lonely Queen Penelope. "Wife of mine," he
thought, "shall I ever lie beside you more? Is there silver in your
bright hair now? Are your thoughts to mewards as mine to you?
Perchance another rules in my palace and sits at my seat. Are your
lips another's now? The great tears are blinding me. Courage!"
Bending his head upon his breast, Ulysses prayed long and earnestly to
his awful patroness, the Goddess Athene, that she would still keep
ward over his fortunes and guide him safely home.
The night wore on and became very silent. The ship seemed to be
moving swiftly and surely, though the wind had dropped and the voice
of the waves was hushed. It seemed to the watcher in the bows that the
ship was moving in the path of some strong current.
A curious white mist suddenly rolled over the still surface of the
sea, thick and ghostly. The mast and sail, which was now drooping and
lifeless, swayed through it like giant spectres. Ulysses could see
none of his companions, but when he hailed the watch the voice of
Phocion came back to him through the ghostly curtain, curiously thick
and muffled.
"The mist thickens, my captain," said the sailor. "Can you see aught
ahead?"
"I can see nothing, Phocion," shouted Ulysses; "the mist is like wool.
But I think it is a land mist come out to meet us. There should be
land ahead."
"I hear no surf or the rolling of waves," said Phocion. "May Zeus
guide the boat, for mortal men are of no avail to-night."
The ship moved on swiftly as if guided by invisible hands towards some
goal, and still the expectant mariners heard no sound.
Quite suddenly, and without the slightest warning, a vivid
copper-coloured flash of lightning illuminated the ship. For an
instant in the hard lurid light Ulysses saw the whole of the vessel in
a distinct picture.
Every detail was manifest--the mast, the cordage, the sleeping
sailors below, the watching group by the shrouds, and, right away
astern, the startled helmsmen motionless as statues of bronze.
Then with a long grinding noise the ship seemed suddenly lifted up in
the water, jerked forward, and then dropped again. She began to heel
over a little out of the perpendicular, and then remained still,
stranded upon an unknown and mysterious shore, where the waves were
all asleep. Still the white mist circled round them.
"Comrades," said Ulysses, "we are brought here by no chance of wind
and waves. Some god has done this thing, but whether for weal or woe I
cannot tell. Let us land upon the beach and lie down with our weapons
within sound of the sea till dawn. At sunrise we shall know where the
god has brought us."
They landed at the order, and with the supreme indifference of the
adventurer lay upon the shore and slept out the remainder of the
night. But Ulysses had a prescience of harm, and was full of sinister
forebodings. He did not sleep, but paced through the mist all night in
a little beaten track among the boulders. He prayed long and earnestly
to Athene.
When the first faint hintings of dawn brightened through the mist a
little breeze arose, and before the sky was more than faintly flushed
with day the night fog was blown away like thistledown.
As the sun climbed up the sky the companions found that they had been
carried to a scene of singular beauty. They were on an island, a
small, rich place at the mouth of a great bay. Rich level grass
meadows, green as bright enamel and brilliant with flowers, sloped
gently down to the violet sea. Behind was a thickly-wooded hill, at
the foot of which was a sparkling spring surrounded by a tall grove of
poplar trees.
In the leafy wood the wild goats leapt under the wild vine trees like
Pan at play, as fearless of the intruders as if they had never seen
men before. All the bright morning the sailors made the wood ring with
happy laughter as they speared the goats for a feast. All trouble
passed from their minds, and as the spears flashed swiftly through the
green wood the shrill, jocund voices of the hunters made all the
island musical. Ulysses plunged into a translucent pool at the foot of
the spring, and the cool water flashed like diamonds over his strong
brown arms, and he looked indeed as if he were some river-god and this
his fairy home.
All day long they feasted and drank wine which they had brought in
skins from Lotus Land. When night was falling, very still and gentle,
they saw the blue smoke of fires over the bay, on the mainland, about
a mile away, and the bleating of many sheep and the lowing of herds
came to them over the wine-coloured sea.
Ever and again voices could be heard--strange resonant voices. "That
must be the country of some strange gods," the sailors said to each
other. "Those are no mortal voices. We are come into some great
peril." Before they slept they sacrificed a goat on the seashore to
Zeus, that he might guard them from any coming harm.
In the morning the king prepared for action. It was necessary to find
upon what shores they had arrived, to get direction of Ithaca, and if
treasure was to be won by force or guile, to take the opportunity
which chance or the gods had sent.
Ulysses chose twelve of his men, tried veterans with nerves of steel,
old comrades who had fought with him for Helen on the windy plains of
Troy. With these old never-strikes he embarked on the ship. He left
Phocion as leader of the remainder of the crew, and taking Elpenor
with him as second in command, they got out six sweeps, three on each
side of the ship, and rowed slowly over the glassy bay.
The mainland, on the shore where they landed, was a wild rocky place,
and there was a broad road winding away up to the higher pasture
lands. The road was made of great rocks beaten into smoothness, and
fresh spoor of cattle showed that not long since a great herd had
passed to the upland feeding grounds.
Directly in front of them as they landed was a high cave. It was
fringed with laurel bushes, which grew on ledges in the cliff side.
Before the cave a great wall had been built in a square, forming a
courtyard. The wall was built with enormous masses of rock, and fenced
with a palisade of pine trunks and massive boles of oak. There was no
sign of any living thing. Slowly and cautiously the party crept up to
the wall. Their weapons were in readiness as they stole through the
gateway. Within the square formed by the wall they could see that it
was a vast cattle pen. "This must be the dwelling of some giant," said
Elpenor; "men do not build like this. On what strange place have we
chanced?" He looked inquiringly at Ulysses when he had spoken, and a
ring of eager faces turned towards him whose wisdom was never at
fault, the favourite of Athene.
"I think, comrades," said Ulysses, "that we have been driven to the
shores of the Cyclopes. They are mighty giants, who work in the forge
of Vulcan making armour for the gods. Now this cave must be the
dwelling of one of them, and I like not where we are. Let us but go
within for a short time and take what we can find, and then hasten
back to the island. The Cyclopes have no boats and cannot follow us.
But it would go hard with us were we found, for they are crafty and
cruel monsters."
With hasty, curious footsteps they crossed the echoing flags of the
courtyard and entered the cave. As the shadow of the entrance fell
upon them and the chill of the air inside struck on their faces, more
than one would have gladly stayed in the warm outside sunshine. It was
an ill-omened, sinister place this lair of giants.
A pungent ammoniacal smell made them cough and shudder as they crossed
the threshold. Ulysses turned with a grim smile to his followers.
"Thank the gods we are seamen and sons of the fresh wind. This Cyclops
lives like a swine in a stye." The large entrance to the cave gave a
fair light within, and their eyes soon became accustomed to it. Along
one side of the cave were folds of fat lambs and kids who bleated
lustily at them. At the end of the cave was a great couch of skins by
the ashes of a pine fire. Bones and scraps of flesh were piled round,
relics of some great orgy, and a sickly stench of decay came from the
_débris_.
Piles of wicker baskets were loaded with huge yellow cheeses, and
there were many copper milk pails and bowls brimful of whey.
The sailors rejoiced at such an abundance of good cheer, and they
killed one of the fattest of the lambs and lit a fire to roast it.
"The giant will not return till even," said Elpenor, "and by then we
shall be far away. We will make a good meal now, and then load the
ship with cheeses and drive off the best of the lambs. Our comrades
will welcome us home this night, for we shall be full-handed!"
So, careless of danger, they sat them down in that perilous place and
made merry on the giant's cheer. They had brought skins of wine with
them, and they drank in mockery to their absent host.
In the middle of the feast one of the men suddenly laid down his cup.
"Hearken," he said uneasily, "do you hear anything, friends?"
"I hear nothing," said Ulysses. "What sound did you hear?"
"A distant sound, I thought," answered the man, "as if the earth
shook."
"There is nothing," said a third at length; but a certain constraint
fell upon them all, and anxiety clouded their faces.
"Let us begone," said Ulysses at length. "There is what I do not like
in the air. I fear evil."
He had but hardly made an end of speaking when all of them there were
struck rigid with apprehension. A distant but rapidly-nearing sound
assailed their ears, a heavy crunching sound like the blows of a great
hammer upon the earth, save that each succeeding blow was louder than
the last. They stood irresolute for one fatal moment, and then started
to run towards the mouth of the cave.
The noise filled all the air, which hummed and trembled with it. They
reached the entrance, but too late. Even as the first man came out
into the afternoon sunlight, a great herd of cattle came pouring into
the courtyard. Behind them, towering over the wall, as tall as the
tallest pine on the slopes of Hymettus, strode Polyphemus, the giant
king of the Cyclopes, son of the God Poseidon.
The giant was naked to the waist, where he wore a girdle of skins. One
great eye burned in the centre of his forehead, and a row of sharp,
white teeth were framed by thick dribbling lips, like the lips of a
cow.
Under his arm Polyphemus carried a bundle of young sapling trees,
which he had brought for faggots for his fire. He threw them on the
floor of the courtyard by the mouth of the cave with a great crash.
The adventurers crouched away at the back of the cave in the darkness
as the giant entered.
He drove all the ewes of his flock before him, leaving the rams
outside in the court. Then he took a great hole of rock, which scarce
twenty teams of horses could have moved, and closed the mouth of the
cave.
With a great sigh of weariness, which echoed like a hissing wind and
blew the silent bats which hung to the roof this way and that in a
frightened eddy of wings, he sank down upon his couch of skins. The
giant had brought some of the firewood into the cave with him and he
threw it into the embers.
A resinous piece of wood suddenly caught the flame and flared up,
filling the cavern with red light. One of the sailors dropped his
spear with a loud clatter as the flames made plain the figure of the
monster.
Polyphemus turned his head and saw them.
He stared steadily at them with his single eye for full a minute. A
cruel smile played on his face.
"Who are you, strangers?" he said at length, in a thick, low voice
like the swell of a great organ. "Merchants, are you? Pirates? And
whence come you along the paths of the sea?"
Then Ulysses spoke in a smooth voice of conciliation. "We are Greeks,
oh lord, soldiers of Agamemnon's army, bound for home over the seas
from Troy. Bad weather has driven us out of our course, and so we have
come to you and beg you to be our honoured host. Oh, great lord, have
reverence for the gods, for Zeus himself is the god of hospitality."
Then the giant smiled cunningly. "You are a man of little wit,
stranger," he said, "or else you have indeed come from the very end of
the world. I pay no heed to Zeus, for I am stronger than he. But now,
tell me, where is your ship?"
But Ulysses, the wary one, saw the snare and answered humbly, "The
great Poseidon, god of the deep, wrecked our ship upon the rocks, and
we alone survive of all our company."
The giant looked fixedly at the trembling band for a moment. Then,
with a sudden movement, he snatched among the mariners and grasped two
of them in his mighty hand.
The swift horror remained with them in all their after life. He
stripped the clothes from each like a man strips the scales from a
prawn with one quick twirl of his fingers.
Then he dashed the quivering bodies upon the ground so that the yellow
paste of the brains smeared the stone--save for the horrid crunching
of bone and flesh, and the liquid gurgle of the monster's throat as he
made his frightful meal, there was no sound in the cave.
Then he fell into a foul sleep.
Three times during the long night did Ulysses draw his sword to
plunge it into the monster's heart, three times did he sheathe it
again. For in his wisdom he knew that if he killed Polyphemus no one
could ever move away the great stone which shut them from the outside
world.
In the morning Elpenor and one other died, and the giant drove his
flocks to pasture and closed up the heroes in the cave.
Then Ulysses comforted the dying hearts of his men, and as Polyphemus
strode away over the hills whistling to his cattle, he made a plan for
one last bid for freedom.
Leaning against the wall of the cave was a great club of hard wood
which the monster had put there to dry. It was an olive-tree trunk as
big as the great spar of a ship.
This they took and sharpened with their swords, and hardened it in the
flame of the fire and hid it carefully away. Then very sadly the
sailors cast lots as to who should be the four to help the captain.
All day long they sat in the foetid cave and prayed to the gods for an
alms of aid. And their hearts were leaden for love of their valiant
comrades.
At eventime two more heroes died.
Then Ulysses rose, and though his knees were weak and his face
blanched with agony, he spoke in a smooth voice. "My Lord Cyclops," he
said, "I have filled this bowl with wine which we brought with us. I
pray you drink, and perchance your heart may be touched and you will
let us go."
So the giant took the bowl from the king, and as Ulysses went near
him his breath reeked of carrion and blood. He drank the wine, which
was a sweet and drowsy vintage from the Lotus Island. "Give me more,"
he cried thickly, "and say how you are named, for I will grant you a
favour."
Ulysses filled the bowl for him three times. "Oh, my lord," he said,
"my friends and parents call me Noman, for that is my name. Now, great
lord, your boon."
The giant leered at the hero with drunken cunning. "Noman, since that
is your name Noman, you shall die last of all, and the others first.
That is your boon!"
And once more he sank into his sleep, gorged with blood and wine.
The hours wore on and the flames of the fire sank into a bright red
glow. The loud stertorous breathing of the monster became more deep
and regular. Very silently the five rose from among the rest and stole
towards the fire with the great stake. They pressed it into the heart
of the white hot embers and sat watching it change from black to
crimson, while little sparks ran up and down the sides like flies upon
the wall.
When the spar was just about to burst into flame they drew it out, and
with quick, nervous footsteps carried it to where Polyphemus lay
sleeping. The glow from the hot hard wood played upon that vast
blood-smeared countenance and the yellow wrinkled lid which veiled the
cruel eye.
Ulysses directed the point to the exact centre of the foul skin, and
then with their old battle cry of "Helen!" the five heroes pressed it
home through the hissing, steaming eyeball, turning it round and round
until everything was burned away.
They had just time to leap aside when the giant rose in horrid agony.
His cries of rage and pain were like the cries of a thousand tortured
beasts, and the din was so great that pieces of rock began to fall
from the roof of the cave. He spun round in his torture, beating upon
the walls with his arms and head until they were a raw and bleeding
wound.
At this awful sound mighty footsteps were heard outside the cave as
the other giants rushed down from the hills. There came great and
terrible voices shouting together, and it was as though a great storm
was racing through the world.
"What ails you, brother, that you call us from sleep in the night?"
cried the giants.
"Help! help! brothers. Noman is murdering me. I die!"
A chorus of thunderous laughter came rolling back. "If Noman harms
thee, then how should we aid thee, brother? 'Tis the gods who have
sent thee a sickness which thou must endure."
And now, through an aperture high up in the cave, the light began to
whiten, and showed day was at hand. The footsteps of the Cyclopes grew
faint and ceased, but Polyphemus lay moaning by the great stone which
closed the entrance.
The morning light grew stronger, and a breeze stole in, fresh and
clean, and played upon the faces of the prisoners.
The ewes began to bleat, for their milking time was at hand, and the
rams cried out for freedom and the green pastures of the hill.
The giant moved aside the stone to let them go and in the morning
sunlight the sailors could see that he felt over them with his hands
so that no men should mingle with them and so escape.
First the ewes went out and then the young rams, and last of all the
great old rams, patriarchs of the flock, began to move slowly towards
the door.
Then courage came back to Ulysses, and with it all his cunning.
Stooping low under the belly of a great beast, he motioned to his
friends to do likewise, and, slowly, in this way, holding to the
fleece of the rams, they moved out of the cave. They could feel the
rams tremble when the giant's hands ranged over the wool of their
backs, but nevertheless they came safely out into the light, and stole
down to where their ship yet lay at anchor.
The air of the morning was like wine to them, and the face of the
water as dear as the face of a well-beloved wife as they ran over the
bright yellow sand.
Then from the stern of the boat Ulysses cried out in a great voice of
triumph. At that sound the monster came stumbling from his cave,
reeling like a drunken man, and calling on his father Poseidon, Lord
of the Sea, to avenge him on his enemies. He took up the stone that
had barred the cave and threw it far out into the water, but it
overshot the boat and did not harm the heroes, though the wave of its
descent flung the ship from side to side as if it were a piece of
driftwood. The mariners bent to the oars, and the vessels moved away
from that accursed shore, slowly at first but more swiftly as their
tired arms grew strong with the chance of safety, and the wine of hope
flowed in their veins once more.
They saw the sightless face of Polyphemus working horribly, his mouth
opening and shutting like a dying fish as he looked heavenwards and
implored his mighty father's aid.
And after a space of mourning for the brave dead the heroes set out
again over the sad grey seas, seeking Ithaca.
But the heart of King Ulysses was sick and weary, for he dreaded the
wrath to come, and most of all he longed for home.
THE SECOND EPISODE
THE ADVENTURE OF THE PALACE IN THE WOOD
Ulysses slowly mounted the wooded hill. The path which rose towards
the summit wound in and out through thick undergrowth, and his feet
made no sound upon the green moss of the track.
He had his spear ready for any game that he might chance on, but for
half a day he saw no living thing save a few mailed lizards that lay
open-eyed upon a stone.
No birds twittered in the forest on the mountainside, only the wild
bees sang in the stillness like jewels with voices.
How beautiful the wood was! and how mysterious also. Ulysses felt a
quickening of the pulses which did not come from fear, and a strange
excitement possessed him which arose from he knew not what cause.
The trees in the forest were very old and grew thickly together. The
trunks were painted delicate greens, greys and browns by lichens, and
the foliage overhead met and made a roof of bright leaves. Beneath
this canopy there was a sort of twilight like the gloom in the temple
of Zeus at Sparta.
Ulysses toiled on and up. After a time the trees began to open out
and grow less thickly. The moss-carpet began to be rocky and uneasy to
walk upon, so that Ulysses knew that he must be nearing the top.
At last he climbed a few worn boulders and stood alone upon the peak.
From that great height he could discern the sea on all sides of the
island. Beyond the thick woodlands below, the yellow sands of the
shore went out to meet the water, and the king could see the ship
riding at anchor and a small boat plying from it to a tiny group of
black dots upon the beach.
Ulysses sent his gaze circling slowly over the unbroken green of the
woods. When his roving glance fell upon the very centre of the island
he started suddenly and shaded his eyes from the sunlight with both
hands. A thick column of blue smoke was rising from among the trees,
and looking more intently than before he could see the gleam of white
marble here and there through the greenwood, and catch the sunlight
glinting upon copper.
He had learned what he came to know; there was life upon the island.
But of what kind? Did some fearful monster lurk yonder, three miles
away in the forest. Another Cyclops, perchance, or some angry god
wroth at a disturbance of his privacy.
The still smoke rose into the soft air and a great calm seemed to
brood over the place. No birds flew about the roofs.
He began to retrace his steps down towards his comrades on the shore
to tell them what he had seen.
The wood was as still as before, but when he came to the meadow lands
below he dropped quickly behind a clump of fern, for his keen eyes had
seen a smooth brown flank not far away. A great stag was drinking at a
little stream which sang its way down from the mountain to the sea.
They had touched at the island with very little food left, and the
king had promised that he would return with spoils from hunting.
Just as the beast raised his head from the water the spear flashed
like a gleam of light from the clump of fern, and the quarry stumbled,
clattering among the stones with a sob.
Then Ulysses made a rope of willow twigs and tied the stag's feet
together and brought him to the ship.
Only half the crew were upon the shore, for the rest had gone to
explore the inward parts of the island with Eurylochus as their
leader.
They skinned the stag and made a fire, and roasted the sweet flesh
upon their spear points. While they sat eating, a man with a white
face came running over the shore towards them, and as they saw him
come they rose with their arms in fear, for they knew that once more
they had come to some dangerous and evil place, and that a deadly
peril lurked in the forest.
They saw he who ran was Eurylochus, and that he ran in terror.
But none followed him in pursuit, nor did any arrow come singing like
a bee from the shelter of the neighbouring trees.
Eurylochus rushed up to them and sank exhausted by the fire. Ulysses
gave him wine, and motioned the others to ask no questions but to let
the man tell his tale in his own way. For he knew it would be more
vivid so.
"More evil, comrades!" he sobbed out at last, "and good men and true
lost to us for ever. Know you where we have landed? This accursed
place is Ææa, the home of the Goddess Circe, and I have seen her face
to face."
Ulysses started violently, and despair crept into his eyes as he
motioned Eurylochus to proceed.
"We went up through the valleys," said the lieutenant, "and entered
the wood. After we had walked long, and were thirsty and weary, we
came to an open glade in which stood the house of Circe. It was built
of polished marble with copper roofs, and the trees made a thick wall
on all sides of the glade. A very strange, silent place! All round the
house were lions and mountain wolves playing with each other. We
turned to fly in fear, but the beasts fawned upon us with gentle paws
and waving tails, and we saw their eyes were sad and tame, and they
were all unlike the beasts of the field. They were as dogs at supper
begging for food from their masters. But it was an awful sight
nevertheless.
"Now, as we stood waiting in the porch, we heard a sweet low song
inside the palace, sweeter than any mortal song, like the flutes and
harps of the gods. Then we looked in, and we saw the goddess weaving
at a golden loom, and going up and down before it as she sang. And
Polites--oh, dear Polites!--called out to her, and the song ceased,
and Circe came out to us, and bade us enter, and her beauty was like
moonlight. Then the men went in, but I remained, mindful of the
Cyclops and fearing harm. So I sat down in the wood, and the beasts
played round me, and the lions licked my hands with their hard rough
tongues. But I could see what was toward in the palace hall.
"The goddess led them to rich couches and chairs, and she prepared a
drink for them of golden honey and purple wine, white fresh cheese,
and meal of corn. But she poured a brew of magic herbs into the drink,
and when they had passed the bowl from hand to hand and drunk she
waved a wand of cedar wood over them."
He stopped, choking with emotion and shaking with horror at what he
had seen. He covered his face with his hands.
Ulysses placed a firm hand upon his shoulder, and he took up his tale
once more. "And when she waved her wand behold a horror! For suddenly
my comrades dwindled, and were changed to swine. The bristles of swine
grew out upon them, and they grunted like swine, but still the souls
of men shone out of their eyes. And she drove them away into a pen,
and threw them beech nuts, laughing most musically. And I, the
unhappy one, fled and am come hither with my tale."
Ulysses rose with a pale set face, and stern hard lines flashed out
round his lips. For a moment he prayed in silence to Athene. Then he
slung his strung bow upon his shoulder, and loosened the arrows in the
quiver, testing each one for a flaw in the shaft. He took his great
silver-studded sword and buckled it round his waist. "I alone, my
comrades, must go to the palace of the enchantress," he said. "I have
no choice but to go and strive. May the gods preserve you, friends."
He was preparing to move away when they all entreated him to remain
with them, but he would not listen, and as he moved away and was lost
to their sight they broke out into loud praises of him among
themselves.
It was ever thus. Their father and captain was first in wisdom and
courage, and had always seemed to them more god than man.
Ulysses passed over the meadows with slow sure step, thinking deeply.
The forest closed about him, dark and lonely, and his walk changed. He
became alert, walking warily and softly. His keen eyes roved over the
untrodden paths, seeking to pierce the mystery of the greenwood.
He had halted by a brook for a moment, debating which path he should
venture, when help came to him.
There was a crash in the tree tops above him, a glittering ball of
light fell through the green, and a wind rushed among the leaves,
suddenly rousing all the voices of the wood.
[Illustration: THEN HE CAME SWIFTLY UPON THE GLEAMING PALACE.
_Page 45._]
A young and beautiful man, holding a golden rod, with a slight down
upon his lip, came towards him.
Ulysses knew that the God Hermes had flashed down from heaven to be
his counsellor. He fell upon his knees before the divine messenger.
"The great Athene has sent me to you, king," said the god, "for she
heard your prayer upon the shore, and will deliver you from the forest
danger. Here is a sprig of the magic herb moly. Take it in your hand
for a safeguard against the wiles of Circe.
"When you go into the palace she will mix you her enchanted potion,
and strike you with her wand. Do you draw your sword, and make as
though to slay her. Then she will fear greatly and swear to do you no
harm."
Ulysses took the white flowered talisman, and Hermes vanished among
the trees.
Then he came swiftly upon the gleaming palace, and going up to the
marble porch struck upon it with his sword hilt, and called to the
goddess.
She glimmered towards him. Her hair was like a young horse-chestnut
fresh from the pod. Her eyes were like pools of violet water, her neck
was a tower of ivory, and her lips were red as sunset.
The flower of evil, the goddess of strange sins!
She smiled at the hero, and led him by the hand to a table on which
was a golden cup, proffering it to him in welcome.
Ulysses bowed low before her loveliness, and as he drank there was a
strange smile in his eyes.