Having sailed from Troy with a fair wind, so Odysseus began to tell, we calmly sailed across the boundless sea and finally reached the land of the Ciconians. We captured their city of Ismar, destroyed all the inhabitants, captured the women, and destroyed the city. For a long time I convinced my companions to sail to their homeland as soon as possible, but they did not listen to me. Meanwhile, the surviving residents of the city of Ismara gathered the surrounding Kikons to help and attacked us. There were as many of them as there were leaves in the forest, as there were spring flowers in the meadows. We fought with the Kikons for a long time near our ships, but the Kikons overpowered us, and we had to flee. I lost six brave oarsmen from each ship. Three times, before sailing out into the open sea, we called on those comrades who were not with us, and only after that we went out into the open sea, grieving for the killed companions and rejoicing that we ourselves were saved.
As soon as we went out into the open sea, Zeus the Thunderer sent the god of the north wind Boreas to us. He raised a great storm on the sea. Dark clouds were setting across the sky. Darkness enveloped everything around. Three times the stormy wind Borey tore the sails from the masts. Finally, with great difficulty, we rowed to the deserted island. We waited on it for two days and two nights until the storm subsided. On the third day we set up the masts, unfurled the sails and set off on our further journey. But we did not arrive at our beloved homeland. During the storm we lost our way. Finally, on the tenth day of sailing, we landed on the island. This was the island of lot eaters. We lit a fire on the shore and began to prepare lunch for ourselves. I sent three of my companions to find out what kind of people inhabited the island. The lotus eaters greeted them warmly and gave them sweet lotus. As soon as my companions ate it, they forgot their homeland and did not want to return to their native Ithaca; They wanted to stay on the island of lot eaters forever. But we brought them to the ship by force and tied them there so that they would not run away from us. I immediately ordered all my companions to take the oars and leave the island of lot eaters as soon as possible. I was afraid that others, having eaten the sweet lotus, would forget their homeland.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru