The Adventures of Odysseus

THE ADVENTURES

OF ODYSSEUS

CHAPTER 1

THE TROJAN WAR

Odysseus was the king of Ithaca, a Greek island. He had a wife, Penelope, and a son, Telemachus.

Someone came to ask Odysseus to fight in the Trojan War. Odysseus did not want to leave his new wife and baby son. He pretended to be crazy so he would not have to go. But the person tricked him into showing that he was not really crazy, so he had to go to the war in Troy. He thought he would be back soon, but he was gone 20 years.

Odysseus was a brave and brilliant soldier. He and his men won many battles, but they could not capture the city of Troy to win the war.

Odysseus thought of a way to win: he invented the Trojan Horse. He and his men built a giant wooden horse. They hid inside and had it delivered to Troy as a gift. The people of Troy opened their gates and brought the huge horse inside. That night, while the Trojans slept, Odysseus and his men crept out and captured the city. This ended the war, and Odysseus headed home.

CHAPTER 2

LAND OF THE LOTUS EATERS

On the way home, Odysseus and his men stopped at the Land of the Lotus Eaters. The lotus was a sweet fruit that caused people who tasted it to become very lazy and forget everything. Some of the crew ate the fruit and didn't want to leave. Odysseus ate some fruit, too, but he propped his eyelids open with little pieces of wood (like toothpicks) so he wouldn't fall asleep. He forced his men to go back to the ship, and they sailed on.

CHAPTER 3

LAND OF THE CYCLOPS

On another island, Odysseus and his friends were trapped in a cave by a one-eyed cannibal giant named Polyphemus, who was one of a community of Cyclops who lived on the island. Polyphemus began killing and eating the men, one by one. Odysseus told the Cyclops his name was "Nobody"Ð'--then he gave the giant some wine and made him drunk.

When Polyphemus fell asleep, Odysseus stabbed him in his one eye with a burning stick. He and his men escaped, leaving the giant screaming bloody murder. The other Cyclops came running to find out what was wrong. They asked, "Who did this to you?"

The injured Cyclops replied, "Nobody!"

This confused his friends, who just went home and didn't chase Odysseus and his men.

The Cyclops Polyphemus was the son of Poseidon, god of the sea. Poseidon was angry at Odysseus for hurting his son, and he decided to make his journey even harder.

CHAPTER 4

THE AEOLIAN ISLANDS

After escaping the Cyclops island, Odysseus sailed to the Aeoloian

Islands, which were ruled by the keeper of the winds, Aeolus. Aeolus took good care of the men while they visited, and when they left, he gave Odysseus a big bag of fast winds to help him sail more quickly.

When the ship was almost home to Ithaca, Odysseus fell asleep. His greedy sailors thought there was treasure in the bag, so they opened it to look inside. The winds escaped