After leaving the Cyclops, Ulysses and his men sailed to the island of Aeolus, king of the winds. Aeolus welcomed them for a month and gave Ulysses a leather bag tied tight with silver thread. Inside were all the storm winds, locked away so only the west wind could blow them home. For nine days they sailed and came so close to Ithaca that they could see fires burning on shore. Ulysses, worn out from steering, fell asleep. His men thought the bag held gold Aeolus had given him in secret. They opened it, the winds burst out, and a storm drove the fleet back to Aeolus. When Ulysses begged for help again, Aeolus said heaven hated him and sent him away.
They rowed on without wind until they reached the harbor of the Laestrygonians, a race of giants. Ulysses kept his ship outside the narrow inlet while the other captains moored inside. Scouts found a friendly girl who led them to her mother, a giantess. Her father Antiphates seized one man and ate him. Thousands of giants rushed to the cliffs and hurled rocks at the ships trapped in the harbor. Every ship inside was smashed and the crews killed. Only Ulysses cut his cable and rowed out to open water with his single ship.
The survivors reached Circe's island. Ulysses sent Eurylochus with twenty-two men to scout her house. Circe sang at her loom and invited them in, but Eurylochus stayed outside. She drugged their wine and turned the rest into pigs, though they kept their human minds. Ulysses went alone to rescue them. The god Mercury met him on the path and gave him a herb called moly that would protect him from her magic. Ulysses drank her potion without harm, drew his sword, and forced her to swear she would not hurt him. She restored his men and welcomed them all.
They stayed with Circe for a full year, eating and drinking until the men begged Ulysses to sail for home. Circe agreed but said he must first travel to the land of the dead and speak with the prophet Teiresias. That night a crewman named Elpenor, drunk on the roof, fell and broke his neck. When morning came, the men wept at the news, but Ulysses gathered them and prepared for the grim voyage ahead.
Coming Up in Chapter 11
Ulysses must descend to the realm of the dead to speak with ghosts and learn his fate. In the underworld, he'll encounter fallen comrades, legendary heroes, and the spirits of those he's wronged, confronting both his past and his future.
