Penelope and Telemachus await Odysseus’ return
Athena intervenes with the gods on Mount Olympus and Zeus decided to sends Hermes with a message for Calypso
Telemachus learns from Menelaus that his father had been captured by Calypso.
Hermes brings Zeus’ message to Calypso and she sets Odysseus free.
Nearly destroyed by Poseidon on his way home, Odysseus cries:
Oh, happy the men who fell gloriously on the plains of Troy
. . . for me to die this ignobly.
(Hamilton, p. 208)
Odysseus arrives in the Land of the Phaeacians where the young Princess NausicaŠ tactfully directs him to see her father, King Alcinoüs:
People’s tongues are so ill-natured . . .
If they saw a handsome man like you with me,
they would be hinting all sorts of things.
And you can easily find my father’s house,
it is so much the most splendid.
Enter boldly and go straight to my mother,
who will be spinning at the hearth.
What my mother says, my father will do.
(Hamilton, p. 210)
