Valerio Manfredi - Odysseus - The Return

The cyclops’ curse still sounded in my heart. I dragged a fat sheep to the seashore, skinned it and burned the thighs and the best parts in sacrifice to Zeus, in the hopes that this might ward off the ill omen that chased me over the waters as I escaped from that cursed, lawless land peopled by creatures without respect for gods or men. I thought of Calchas, of what he’d said to me that day long ago under the wild fig tree of Troy. I wished he were present, so he could tell me whether the god was pleased with my offering, or disdained it. I could not tell on my own . I sacrificed the animal for nothing, I know that now, but then I still nourished hope.

When I returned to our camp, the men had butchered other sheep and goats, opened jars of wine and lit fires to roast the meat. We ate and drank until sunset on the sand still warm from the rays of the sun. Everyone was quiet. Those who had encountered the cyclops wanted to forget and the comrades who had stayed on the island sensed that something awful had taken place but didn’t have the courage to ask. Little by little, as time passed, as I breathed in the scents of land and sea, watched the stars glittering in a clear sky, listened to the bleating of the kids tagging along after their mothers as they wandered the fields, I could almost forget what had happened. I even had a brief, fleeting sensation that nothing had happened, nothing at all. That I’d dreamed it all up. Perhaps I could even believe that; I’d understood by then that things were true if we believed them. My thoughts went back to my adolescence. .

‘Atta, when I was at grandfather’s house, I saw the goddess Athena.’

‘Sleep, my son.’

What would King Laertes my father have said to me at that moment had he been present? If I told him: ‘Atta, a giant with a single eye in the middle of his forehead, as tall as a pine tree on Mount Neritus, devoured six of my comrades’?

‘Sleep, my son.’

Yes, sleep, heart of mine, sleep if you can.

‘What happened to the men who are missing?’

The voice was Eurylochus’.

‘Ask the others. I’m tired. Too tired, understand? Tomorrow we’ll leave here — we have a long voyage ahead of us. We have to get home, and do you know why? Because even on this side of the wall of fog we crossed — When had that happened? — the sun rises in front of us and sets behind us. When we reach Ithaca and we enter the great port, when we have mourned our dead and embraced our loved ones, all of this will vanish. For always, like a nightmare at the rising of the sun.’

Eurylochus said no more and walked away. I stretched out on the sand and covered myself with my cloak. Distant in the night, on the mainland, I heard a groaning like that of a dying animal. A long suffocated wail. A shrill wind whistled back from the sea.

At dawn, we loaded the ships with everything that the land could offer us, especially reserves of fresh water. We drew up along the shore facing the mainland. We called out the names of our fallen companions ten times each, and then each crew of men boarded their own ship, went straight to the rowing benches and took up the oars.

We sailed into the open sea and my ship once again led the others. A brisk, hot land breeze pushed us north and west. There was no way to fight it. We sailed for days and nights as the wind shifted eastward and gained in intensity. Elpenor was at the helm of my ship and Eurylochus was checking the tautness of the rigging and the direction of the sail. A great sadness gripped my heart because I knew that we were getting further and further away from our homeland and because I mourned for the comrades I had lost. If only I had left them in the land of the flower-eaters! They would still be basking in the rays of the sun. Instead they wandered in the gloom of Hades, lamenting their lives lost. I thought I had been acting for their best interests, but the gods and fate decided differently from what I intended.

It was a little after midday when Eurylochus approached me: ‘Why won’t you tell me what happened to the men who didn’t return with you from the mainland?’

I had been hoping that he would not ask again, that he would understand that the memory of what had happened was too bitter for me to recount. I had to answer him this time, and I told him the whole story. If he didn’t hear it from me, he would have heard it from the others.

‘You have nothing else to say to me?’ he asked again when I had finished.

I knew what he meant. ‘If you already know, why are you asking me?’

‘Because I want to hear it from your lips and I want to know what awaits us.’

The wind was getting stronger and bellying the sail, the mast was groaning under the stiff gusts. All of the beams were creaking. The men dipped their oars into the sea only when they thought it would lessen the strain of the helmsman.

‘The monster shouted out a curse. He invoked Poseidon, asking him to prevent my return.’

Eurylochus looked down to hide a scowl. I didn’t have the heart to tell him the worst. But what I told him then had the ring of truth. ‘He cursed my name,’ I said, ‘but as you know, my friend, my name. . my name is No One!’

Eurylochus smiled and so did I. This meant that my comrades had not repeated quite everything. On the third evening of our voyage, the wind started to drop off and to shift slowly westward. The setting sun was, in fact, directly in front of me, and the foaming sea was dark as wine. The light that flooded the ship made it look as if it were made of copper.

Eurylochus approached me again. ‘What is that?’ he asked.

‘What are you talking about?’

‘Down there, look at that line of white foam. The waves, they seem to be dashing against something.’

‘An island?’

‘That’s what it looks like. Or a peninsula, perhaps. What shall we do?’

‘Go ashore,’ I said. ‘It’s always best to have as much fresh water on board as we can, and the men can eat fresh food, although we’re not running out of what we have. We’re strong. We can defend ourselves in the face of danger, and the mass of land doesn’t look that big. Give orders.’

Eurylochus didn’t wait to be told twice. He ordered Elpenor to veer slightly north towards the line of foam, which could now be seen much more distinctly. The men put their backs into the oars to help the manoeuvre. The foam was turning pinker as we watched, and the wind getting weaker until it had died down almost completely. We struck the sails and rowed towards the shore in a semicircular formation.

As we approached, an astonishing vision appeared before our eyes. The sea was covered with floating stones, so close to one another that they seemed to be an extension of the land. Behind them we could see tall walls made of bronze or copper and, beyond that, a column of smoke slowly rising towards the sky. A deep, loud rumble sounded like it was coming from the bowels of the earth. An island, floating on the sea.

We looked at one another, wondering what to do. Recent memories made me wary of braving danger in an unknown land, but this place was clearly inhabited, and we could not avoid meeting the local chief or lord, whoever that might be.

I ordered the ships to remain at the mouth of the port and had a boat take me to the shore. I spoke with Eurylochus before leaving: ‘You remain here with the rest of the fleet. I’ll just take a few men. Don’t approach land until you hear from me. If by dusk tomorrow you hear nothing, turn your prows to the sea and continue on your own to Ithaca. You will assume command.’

We embraced because we didn’t know whether we’d ever see each other again, and I went ashore with the men I’d chosen. We walked towards the wall, which was reflecting the last rays of the sun. There were no other ships in the port, no houses along the path leading to the wall, no flocks at pasture. We were armed under our cloaks and I told my men to be ready for anything.