Odysseus recounted: "We were all so tired and hungry. We desperately needed to get home to Ithaca.
"How far away to Sicily?" I asked one of my crew members.
"About four hours sir," he told me. I groaned.
The waves of this calm sea somehow reminded me of my home, listening to them crashing gently on the side of the boat. We had just left the port at Ismarus. For my first stop after Troy, I had docked on the island of the Cicones, an island near to Ismarus's mainland, a memory I wished not to remember.
Then, I traveled to the Lotus Eaters, which caused even more trouble. But one of the worst sails I've ever had was when we were traveling from the Lotus Eaters to Sicily.
"Everyone gets below! It's going to be a rough storm!" I screamed. Everyone ran below decks. I stayed outside to steer the ship. I thought then that it was just a storm...but little did we know, it was Poseidon trying to stop us from finding his unmarked island. I used my steering skills and managed to dock on an island, in the middle of a giant landmass and the home of the Lotus Eaters. We needed to stop though, for we could not sail through the treacherous storm.
It was just afternoon... I think when we docked our ship. The island was filled with flowers, blowing around frantically because of the windy storm, called honeysuckle. I remembered a garden Penelope had just outside our window where she grew honeysuckle, tending to the plants with love.
My crew and I set up a temporary camp out of sticks and leaves to wait out the storm—practical and simple. My crew and I must have fallen asleep, for I had a dream. I woke up in my bed, next to Penelope. I could feel the warmth, I felt safe.
"Boss, wake up." I hear, brushing it off as nothing.
"WAKE UP!" Eurylochus screams. I wake up with a startle.
"What?" I say angrily getting up.
"We fell asleep. We need to cook some food now." He says. I get up.
"Let's set up a fire, and get the food off the ship," I shout. My crew immediately gets up and starts. I take a good look around.
It was a beautiful island, the sun shining on it just right, with the vibrant green grass under the flocks of different animals. It was gorgeous, taking in the circumstances of the storm.
After dinner, we rested for a bit more, then started exploring the island, curious, hoping for something to help further us in our journey.
"Look! Over here!" Eurylochus spoke. He's not just my brother in law, but he's also my best friend. He yelled, waving us all over-enthusiastically.
"It looks like a sign of life!" he said loudly, not realizing if there are other people on the island, we might be in danger. I walked over to him, watching where I stepped.
"Gather 'round everyone!" I spoke. All my men gathered around me, questioning why I called them.
"As you can see..." I paused, looking over to the pile of already eaten honeysuckle, "there are signs of life on this island. That means we are not alone and could be in danger. From now on, we all stick together as a group." They took my words with grim silence. Together, as one, we walked further into the island.
Swoosh!
I heard a weird noise, almost like someone is swimming in the ocean. I looked over and nothing is there but the waves. The sudden silence was eerie.
"Everyone be careful, we're definitely not alone," I said, walking cautiously.
Splish, splash, splish. Sounded like swimming. I look over and there were just waves. The sudden silence was eerie.
We found a cliff that looked out over the woods we had just walked through and down to the beach. All of a sudden—the island goes dark, clouds and thunderstorms forming over it. We heard a loud, high pitched scream, which made us go deaf for a moment. I could hear screaming from my men, it was faint because my eardrums were still ringing from the first screech. I whipped around this way and that, searching for the source of the scream. As my hearing started to come back, the scream ringing in my ears, I looked over into the ocean and saw a girl almost as big as the mountains, beautiful as can be, with a white seashell crown and a beautiful dress made from the sea itself.
She looked angry. Her body language said it all... Fists clenched, eyebrows tilted, you could see the anger in her eyes.
"What are you doing on my island?" She spoke firmly. There was a tense, still movement. Then all my men ran and hid. I, however, stayed to speak with her, ignoring my fear.
"We stumbled upon this unmarked island to rest for a bit. We're going to be leaving in the morning," I yelled over the crashing thunder. She laughs while swaying around in the water.
"Sure you are... I've had people like you come onto this island before, lying, trying to steal my treasure."
I looked to Eurylochus behind me.
"Get everyone and go to the ship, load everything up and wait for me there. Be ready to leave," I whispered. He ran, telling everyone to get back to the ship. I focused my attention on her.
"What's your name?" I asked.
"My name..." She seemed taken aback by my question. "You want to know my name?" Her expression was curious, though still hostile. I nodded.
"My name is Jengu... I'm the keeper of this island...I swore to protect its treasures... That's why you're here, to steal them... Isn't it?" She raised an eyebrow. There was doubt in her voice, something I did not expect from her.
"No, as I said before, we're here, resting for tomorrow's journey," I said again.
"Sure you are," she said, her voice shaking with rage, squinting her eyes.
Before I could say anything else she started to spin rapidly. As she spun around, the water came up in a tornado-like spiral. From my vantage point, I could see the men who were left tending the fire get sucked into the ocean. I hoped that Eurylochus and my men who were running through the woods were ok. Water started flying out of it, hitting me in sheets like the metal of a broadsword and knocked me to the ground. At this moment, I knew there was no bargaining with her. I got up and ran into what looked like never-ending woods, trying to draw her into the mainland. She snarled in anger. This is not going to be easy, I thought. The ground started to shake and out of nowhere a huge geyser formed underneath me, shooting me into the air. I screamed as I fell to what I was sure was going to be my death—
But I grabbed onto a long tree branch, crashing into leaves and branches on the way down. I managed to survive with only a few scratches and scrapes. It was quiet...too quiet. I started walking again, my eyes casting about for any clue to where I am, and I stumbled upon a beautiful, shimmering lake. The surface glimmers prettily, the movement of the water hypnotizing.
I know danger is coming. It was like a gut feeling. My stomach was turning, I felt sick.
The ground rumbled again, spinning the lake into a whirlpool. Jengu, sill the size of the mountains, appeared in the midst of the angry swirling. Like the water, she, too, was angry, her fury glinting maliciously in her eyes.
It started to rain hard. She came out of the water, looking at me dead in the eyes and screamed at me. It sounded like jumbled up words, I could not recognize.
"Why are you doing this!" I yelled.
"You're trying to get my treasure!" Jengu snarled a growl of hate in her voice. "So now I must kill you and all of your crew members."
A high-pitched screech filled the air. Sharks, piranhas and every fish I have ever encountered started jumped out of the water, creating huge ripples, lunging for me.
Jengu dived into the water, creating a big wave that splashed onto the shore. The next thing I know, I was underwater, fighting for breath, the fish had dragged me further into the water. I thought I was almost to the surface when a fish bites my leg further up, bringing me down further into the water.
I will not give up that easily.
I kicked at the fish and scrabbled at it with my hands, forcing it off of me, kicking furiously and with all my strength to the surface, finally escaping from the water with a huge, desperate gasp. I thought to myself, What could I possibly do to distract her for us to get away...?
Suddenly, an idea comes to me as I scrambled away from the lake's shore.
"Fire," I whispered. Jengu heard me.
"NO!!!" she screamed, diving back into the lake trying to stop me at the shore. I got up and ran into the woods, frantically looking for dry wood. I found some and start to make a fire, desperately trying for a spark. There was a rumble the ground started shaking again. But though it was distant, I didn't have much time.
"IT'S NOT WORKING!" I screamed in frustration, panicking. I grabbed the nearest rocks and pounded them together until I finally lit a fire out of old driftwood and branches, it didn't take long to get caught on fire because of the wind Jengu was causing. I threw it into the woods and ran back to the ship. I can hear screaming in the distance, and I pray to Zeus it is Jengu.
"READY THE OARS!" I screamed, running to the ship. All of the men got in their places so we can leave as soon as I got on the ship.
"How many men have we lost?" I shouted, waiting for anyone to answer me.
"Only one sir, a geyser shot up out of the ground launching him into the air on our way back to the ship," Eurylochus. We're finally leaving. I look back to the island and see it engulfed in flames with Jengu desperately trying to put it out.
I turned around and said, "Gentlemen, we've escaped again!" I yelled, ecstatically. All the men started cheering.
"Now, we're on our way to Sicily, so be ready," I said.
I felt bad, having to burn Jengus' island, but I had to save my crew. While we didn't get the treasure, which wasn't our main priority, we did get a whole load of honeysuckle for the rest of our trip. It was truly horrible that we lost one of our men—once we docked our ship in a safe place, I promised we would create a memorial for him. Now we were off... hopefully home to Ithaca... but I did not know what was to come ahead. We had a long trip ahead of us.