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but penned in there they squealed when Kirke tossed them
acorns and hazelnuts, hard fruits of the cornel
to crunch—good feed for pigs that wallow in mud-beds.
A Story of Shock and Witchery
“Eurulokhos hurried away to our swarthy and race-fast
ship to tell us the news—the men’s lot was revolting.
But nothing came out. Try as he might he could not speak,
his eyes flowing with tears, the pain overwhelming,
all his heart and mind bent on that sorrow.
Amazed at the man, we kept on asking him questions
till finally he told us how our war-friends were lost there:
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‘We went through the woods as you told us, shining Odysseus.
We found a beautiful, built-up home in a glade there,
shining stone, raised quite high, with a broad view.
Someone sang inside and moved at a great loom,
maybe a woman or Goddess. We called to her loudly,
the lady came out promptly, she opened her bright doors
and called them inside. They all unknowingly followed.
But I held back myself, sensing a trap there.
‘They all vanished together. None of them came out
later, although I stayed and watched for a long time.’
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Don’t Take Me Back There
“Soon as he’d spoken I threw a sword over my shoulder,
the long bronze one with silver knobs. My bow was about me;
I ordered him now to take me back by the same trail.
But clasping my knees with both his hands he implored me
as though in mourning, the words with a feathery swiftness,
‘Zeus-fed man, don’t take me unwillingly, leave me,
because I know you’ll never be guiding your war-friends
back or return yourself. No, with these others
let’s run fast! An evil day can still be avoided.”
Help from a God
“But after he spoke that way I answered by saying,
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‘Eurulokhos, stay in this place of course if you want to,
dining and drinking close to the hollow and black ship.
But I’ll be going. What I feel is a strong need.’
Having spoken I left the ship at the salt sea.
“In time as I passed through the awe-filled Goddess’s hollow
approaching Kirke, skilled with drugs in her great house,
the God of the Golden Wand suddenly faced me—
Hermes. Not far from the house, resembling a young man
with wisps of a beard, he looked quite graceful and youthful.
He took my hand, called me by name and he asked me,
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‘Where are you now, wretched man, alone on this hillside
without your knowing the place? Your war-friends in Kirke’s
house were changed into pigs and locked in her pigsty.
Now have you come to free them? I say you will never
go home yourself. You’ll stay right there with the others.
Come though, I’ll keep you from harm myself and I’ll save you.
Take this helpful plant when you enter Kirke’s
house for its power will guard and save you from evil
She’ll make you a mix and toss her drugs in your dinner.
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Yet she cannot bewitch you, not if I give you
♦ this helpful plant and stop her. I’ll speak about each point.
Don’t Say No to the Goddess
‘When Kirke strikes you there using her long rod,
take out the sharp sword by your thigh and attack her—
charge the Goddess as though in a rage to destroy her!
You’ll shock and scare her; she’ll ask you to lie alongside her.
You shall not say no to the bed of a Goddess.
But ask her to free your men and make you a guest there.
Command her to swear the greatest oath by the blessed
Gods that she won’t keep plotting evil and anguish,
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not to harm or unman you soon as you’re naked.’
Molu
“The Splendor of Argos, having spoken, gave me a plant-drug
pulled from the soil. The God showed me its good pith:
although the roots were black its blossom was milklike.
Molu the Gods call it, hard for a death-bound
man to uproot but the all-powerful Gods can.
A Tense Heart
“Hermes left me now for the heights of Olumpos,
away from the forested island. I went to Kirke’s
house and my heart mulled so much as I walked there.
I soon stood at the gates of the Goddess with lovely
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hair and called out. Kirke, hearing my loud voice,
came out promptly. The shining doorway was opened:
she called me inside. I followed, my heart in a tense state.
She led me along to a chair studded with silver,
finely crafted; under the chair was a footstool.
She made me a mix in a golden goblet to drink down,
putting a drug in, her heart set upon evil.
She gave me the cup. When I drank and it failed to bewitch me,
she struck me hard with her long rod and she told me,
‘Go to the sty now—wallow with all of your men there!’
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Shock and a Plea for Sex
“She stopped and I drew the sharp sword from its thigh-sheath.
I charged the Goddess as though I meant to destroy her!
She yelled wildly and stooped to clasp me at both knees,
wailing and begging, the words with a feathery swiftness,
‘What man are you, where is your city, who are your parents?
I’m seized by amazement: you drank my drug and were not charmed.
No one, no other man, has taken this drug and withstood it
after he sent it past the wall of his front teeth.
Now this mind, your chest, are not to be spellbound.
Are you resourceful Odysseus? The Splendor of Argos,
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God of the Golden Wand, often has told me
you’d come from Troy in your ship, a black one with great speed.
Come on then, slide your sword in its sheath. Both of us quickly
should go to my bed together! Loving each other
in bed will bring us closer to trusting each other.’
When the Man Is Naked
“But after she spoke that way I answered by asking,
‘Goddess Kirke, how can you ask me for kindness
after you changed my men into pigs in your great hall?
Clasping me here, plotting tricks when you ask me
to go to your room, to lie in your bed and be loving,
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how would you harm or unman me there when I’m naked?
I’d never desire to go upstairs to your own bed,
unless you agreed, Goddess, to swear me a great oath:
no new plots, no other planning to harm me.’
“I spoke that way and she promptly foreswore as I’d asked her.
After she’d sworn, when all the oaths were behind her,
I went myself to the beautiful bedroom of Kirke.
Nymphs in the Great Hall
“Handmaids meanwhile worked hard in the great hall.
The four female helpers who lived in the household
♦ were born of surrounding groves, woodlands and fountains;
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of holy rivers flowing down to the salt sea.
One maid tossed her covers, gorgeously purple,
over the chairs, then set down smooth cloths underneath them.
A second
helper drew up tables of silver
close to the chairs and golden baskets were placed there.
A third one blended sweet, mind-of-the-honey
wine in a silver bowl, then set out goblets of pure gold.
The fourth maid brought in water and started a big fire
under a giant cauldron, heating the water.
Joys of the Bath
“Soon as water boiled in the cauldron of bright bronze,
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Kirke sat me in a tub and poured from the bulky
cauldron over my head and shoulders, warm as I wanted,
until she’d taken the spirit-devouring stress from my body.
After I’d bathed she anointed me richly with fine oil,
then tossed a beautiful mantle and tunic around me.
She sat me down on a chair studded with silver
and finely crafted; under the chair was a footstool.
A maid brought in water and poured from a lovely
pitcher of gold. I washed my hands in the silver
basin. She set out a polished table before me.
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An honored housekeeper brought me bread and arranged it.
She laid out plenty of food, gracious and giving,
and urged me to eat. But it brought no joy to my great heart.
My mind was elsewhere—I sat with inklings of evil.
Still Alone at Dinner
“When Kirke noticed the way I sat without putting
a hand to her food, what strong sadness possessed me,
she came up close and her words had a feathery swiftness:
‘Odysseus, why do you sit here resembling a dumb man,
taking no food or drink and gnawing your spirits?
Maybe you sense more tricks. But those you have no need
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to fear: I foreswore guile when I made you a strong oath.’
“After she spoke that way I answered by asking,
‘Ah but Kirke, where is the man in his right mind
who’d take your food or drink this wine at your table
before he freed and gazed at his men with his own eyes?
So if you want me to eat and drink and you mean it,
release them. Let me see my trusted friends with my own eyes.’
Pigs into Men
“Soon as I’d spoken Kirke went out of the great hall,
rod in hand. She opened the gates of the pigsty
and drove them out. They looked like boars about nine years
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old standing before her. Moving among them,
the lady anointed every beast with another
drug. The bristles left their bodies: Kirke had made them
grow there before, bewitching the men with a curse-like
drug but now they were human and somehow younger,
much more handsome, taller and stronger to look at.
As every man clasped my hands and recalled me,
a keen sorrow fell on them all and a frightful
wailing filled the house. Even the Goddess felt pity.
Calves and Their Mothers
“The bright one, Kirke, stood nearby and she told me,
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‘Zeus-fed son of Laertes, my wily Odysseus!
Go to your race-fast ship on the shore of the salt sea
now and haul her out, first, onto dry land.
Store your goods and tackle, next, in the caves there.
Then come back, guiding the men you rely on.’
“Those were her words. My heart felt proud and I said yes.
I went to the race-fast ship on the shore of the salt sea
and close to the nimble vessel I found the men I relied on,
all of them wretched, moaning and shedding their big tears.
♦ The way young calves come frisking from stock-pens and circling
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clustered cows returning to pens when they’re done with
grazing—all of the jumpy calves are held in the farmyards
no longer but making a din they’re crowding and circling
their mothers—my men, seeing me now with their own eyes,
thronged me and wept. It seemed in their hearts they had gone back
home in fact to the city and land of their fathers,
to rugged Ithaka’s ground that bore them and nursed them.
They spoke as they wept and the words had a feathery swiftness,
‘Nourished by Zeus!’ ‘We feel such joy when you come back,
as though we stepped on Ithakan lands of our Fathers.’
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‘Come on though, tell us the fate of our other war-friends.’
One Man’s Fear
“After they’d spoken I answered, telling them softly,
‘The ship comes first: let’s drag her onto the beach-sand.
Let’s store our tackle and all our goods in the caves here.
Then all of you hurry and follow me closely together
to see your friends in the sacred household of Kirke
dining and drinking. The food will hold out forever.’
“I spoke that way and they quickly followed my orders.