The Adventures of Ulysses

Ulysses commands three ships of 50 men each. The ships are long and narrow, with 20 oars on a side and sharply pointed prows with brass tips that can ram and sink other ships. For travel, the ships stay close to land: They have short masts and square sails to catch the wind, but headwinds can blow them off course, and their hulls have room only for three days’ supplies. The victorious Greeks insist on taking with them their hard-won booty of gold and jewels, and some food and water is left behind. This causes the first of the men’s many problems.

At first, Ulysses’s little fleet sails peacefully under good winds. They pass near a beautiful, undefended town. The men, accustomed to battle, want to attack the place and take its riches; Ulysses worries that the delay might make their return voyage harder. The men talk him into the raid. They attack, drive the residents into the hills, and take what they want from the houses. They sacrifice 10 bulls to the gods then feast on the animals.

Up in the hills, the city and its Ciconian neighbors plan a counterattack. In the night, thousands of fighters, including men riding chariots, attack the drunken pirates. Ulysses rallies them, and they form ranks and retreat toward their ships. Ulysses, an excellent archer, fires at the chariot’s horses, wounding them and causing chaos among the attackers. This allows the Greeks to escape, but 18 die and most are wounded.

The ships, damaged during the attack, begin to take on water. Ulysses decides that the gold and jewels must be thrown overboard. The sinking glitter draws naiads, who flirt with the men. Some naiads ride dolphins; the men think they’re women with fish tails—the first mermaids. Poseidon, thinking the men are trying to steal his naiads, punishes them with a strong wind that pushes the ships across the sea toward Libya in Africa.

Libya is the home of Morpheus, son of Hypnos, the god of sleep. Hypnos mixes the dark colors of sleep for Morpheus to scatter, so that humans would taste death each night; Morpheus’s aunt, Persephone, secretly gave him a pocket of bright colors to sprinkle as well so that people would have dreams and not simply gaze at death all night. Morpheus loves playing with the colors of dreams; he convinced Persephone to create a delicious, honey-flavored flower, the lotus, that people could eat and then sleep and dream all the time. These people in Libya became the Lotus Eaters, and Morpheus would spy on their dreams.

Ulysses’s men arrive at Libya. Exhausted and overheated, the crawl onto the beach and collapse into sleep. Lotus Eaters appear with lotus petals for them to eat; when the men awake, they stuff themselves with the flowers and promptly fall back to sleep. Morpheus watches their dreams and sees memories of war and horror; he mixes cool colors of home that take away the pain.

Ulysses’s dreams, however, are magnificent and terrible, and Morpheus doesn’t alter them but simply watches. He sees shipwrecks, multi-legged monsters, and a giant with an eye in the center of its forehead. Ulysses awakens from the nightmare and believes he has seen his future presented to him in a dream.

Ulysses nearly eats some of the lotus blossoms but resists. He carries his crew, two at a time, back to the ships, lashes the vessels together, raises a sail, and guides the fleet away from Lotusland. He knows from his dream “that he was sailing straight into a nightmare” (15).

Their food gone, the men begin to grumble. Many nearby islands have food, but each hosts a deadly enemy. Ulysses chooses an island and leads a team to explore it. Little do they know the island is the home of the Cyclopes, one-eyed giants who once made lightning bolts for Zeus but were exiled and now fight over the goats or overturn boats and eat the sailors.

They spot goats grazing on a hillside and climb the hill. Polyphemus, the biggest Cyclops, pulls a giant rock from his cave entrance and waits; inside, a fire roasts goats, and the aroma floats out to the men. They rush forward; Ulysses can’t stop them. He draws his sword, knowing danger lies ahead.

Inside, the men gorge themselves on roasted meat. Suddenly the giant rock slams into place across the entrance. In the dark, Ulysses sees a glowing red spot loom above them. It’s the eye of the Cyclops, who’s as big as a tree and scoops up a couple of sailors and eats them.

Thinking quickly, Ulysses calls out, asking who provided the “hospitality.” Polyphemus introduces himself and grabs another crew member. Ulysses urges him to wait because the sailor will taste better with wine. Polyphemus doesn’t know about wine, so Ulysses gives him a flask from his belt. Polyphemus tries it and likes it. He asks Ulysses to introduce himself, and Ulysses says simply that he’s “nobody.” Sleepy from the wine, Polyphemus tells Nobody that he’ll eat him last, but first he’ll lie down for a nap. He tips over with a thunderous crash.

Ulysses gathers his panicky men and tells them his plan. He will pierce the giant’s eye, blinding him. Four of his men gather quietly around the sleeping Polyphemus’s head, two on each side. At a signal, they grab his ears and Ulysses drives his sword into the giant’s glowing eyeball. The giant howls and thrashes; the men hide among a herd of giant goats. Polyphemus stamps about, searching for the men; he kills one.

Polyphemus opens the cave door so the goats can run out and he can search their pen for the men. Ulysses whispers for his team to hang onto the goats from below. They do so; as the goats exit the cave in a crowded flock, the giant strokes their tops, feeling for any human riders; sensing none, he lets them pass by.

Other Cyclopes hear the howling and visit the cave. They ask what happened; Polyphemus says, “Nobody blinded me” (25). The other giants shrug and leave. Ulysses and the men run for their landing boat. Polyphemus chases them but can’t see and bumps into trees. The men reach their landing craft and row it toward the ships. Elated and prideful, Ulysses taunts the Cyclops and tells him his real name. Polyphemus hurls giant boulders at them; one strikes the launch, killing seven of the nine men aboard.

Polyphemus prays to his father, Poseidon, asking that the sea god punish Ulysses with storms, “sorceries,” wrecks, years of wandering, and a home that doesn’t want him when he returns. “Poseidon heard this prayer and made it all happen just that way” (26).