At the council, the immortal gods decided that Athena should help Telemachus return to his homeland unharmed and prevent the suitors from attacking him. Hermes must fly to the island of Ogygia and command the nymph Calypso to release Odysseus. The Thunderer immediately sent Hermes to Calypso.
Putting on his winged sandals and taking the staff in his hands, quick as a thought, Hermes rushed from Olympus. Like a sea eagle, he flew over the sea and in the blink of an eye reached Ogygia. This island was beautiful. Plane trees, poplars, pines, cedars and cypresses grew luxuriantly on it. The lawns were covered with lush grass, and the grass was fragrant with lush violets and lilies. Four springs watered the island, and streams ran from them, whimsically meandering between the trees. There was a cool grotto on the island; It was in it that the nymph Calypso lived. The entire grotto was overgrown with grapevines, and ripe grapes hung from them. When Hermes entered the grotto, Calypso was sitting and weaving a blanket with a wondrous pattern with a golden shuttle. Odysseus was not in the grotto. He sat alone on a cliff near the seashore, looking out into the sea. Odysseus shed tears, remembering his native Ithaca. So he spent whole days, sad and lonely.
Seeing Hermes entering, Calypso stood up to meet him. She invited him to sit down and offered him ambrosia and nectar. Having had enough of the food of the gods, Hermes conveyed to the nymph the will of the king of gods and people, Zeus. Calypso was saddened when she learned that she had to part with Odysseus. She wanted to keep him on her island forever and give him immortality. But she could not resist the will of Zeus.
When Hermes left Calypso, she went to the seashore, where the sad Odysseus was sitting, and said to him:
- Odysseus, dry your eyes, lament no more. I'm letting you go home. Go, take an ax, chop down trees and make a strong raft. You will set off on it, and I will send you a fair wind. If it pleases the gods, then you will return to your homeland.
“Goddess,” Odysseus answered Calypso, “you are not preparing a return to my homeland for me, but something else.” Can I sail across a stormy sea on a fragile raft? After all, even a fast ship does not always cross it safely. No, goddess, I will only decide to board the raft if you give me an unbreakable oath of the gods that you are not plotting to destroy me.
“They say the truth, Odysseus, that you are the smartest and most far-sighted of mortals!” - Calypso exclaimed, - I swear to you by the waters of the Styx, I do not want you to die.
Calypso returned with Odysseus to the grotto. There, during the meal, she began to persuade Odysseus to stay. She promised immortality to Odysseus. She said that if only Odysseus knew how many dangers he would have to endure during his journey, he would have stayed with her. But Odysseus’s desire to return to his homeland was too strong; Calypso could not make him forget his native Ithaca and his family with any promises.
The next morning, Odysseus began building the raft. Odysseus worked for four days, cutting down trees, hewing logs, tying them and knocking them down with boards. Finally, the raft was ready, and a mast with a sail was attached to it. Calypso gave Odysseus supplies for the journey and said goodbye to him. Odysseus unfurled the sail, and the raft, driven by a fair wind, went out to sea.
Odysseus had already been sailing for eighteen days, determining his route by the constellations - the Pleiades and Ursa Major. Finally, land appeared in the distance - it was the island of the Phaeacians. At this time, the god Poseidon saw Odysseus’s raft, returning from the Ethiopians. The lord of the seas became angry. He grabbed his trident and struck the sea with it. A terrible storm arose. Clouds covered the sky, it became so dark, as if night had fallen. The winds stirred up the sea, blowing in from all sides. Odysseus was horrified. In fear, he envies even those heroes who died in glory at Troy. A huge wave crashed onto Odysseus's raft and washed him out to sea. Odysseus sank deep into the depths of the sea and forcibly swam out. He was hampered by the clothes given to him at parting by the nymph Calypso. Still, he caught up with his raft, grabbed it and with great difficulty climbed onto the deck. The winds tossed the raft furiously in all directions. First the fierce Boreas drove him, then Noth, then the noisy Eurus played for him, and, having played, threw him to Zephyra. The waves piled up around the raft like mountains.
The sea goddess Leucothea saw Odysseus in such danger. She took off under the guise of diving from the sea, sat on Odysseus's raft and took on her real form. Turning to him, Leukotea ordered him to take off his clothes, throw himself from the raft into the sea and swim to the shore. The goddess gave Odysseus a wonderful veil that was supposed to save him. Having said this, she took on the image of the diving Leukoteus and flew away. However, Odysseus did not dare to leave the raft. But then the god Poseidon raised a huge wave, like a mountain, and brought it down on Odysseus’s raft. Just as a gust of wind blows a pile of straw in all directions, so a wave scattered the logs of a raft. Odysseus barely had time to grab one of the logs and sit on it. He quickly tore off his clothes, tied himself with Leukotea's blanket, threw himself into the sea and swam to the island. Poseidon saw this and exclaimed:
- Well, that's enough for you now! Now sail through the stormy sea until someone saves you. You will now be pleased with me!
Thus exclaiming, Poseidon drove his horses to his underwater palace. Pallas Athena came to the aid of Odysseus. She forbade all winds to blow except Boreas, and began to calm the raging sea.
For two days Odysseus rushed across the stormy sea. Only on the third day did the sea calm down. From the top of the wave, Odysseus saw land not far away and was terribly happy. But when he was already swimming to the shore, he heard the sound of the surf. The waves roared between the coastal cliffs and underwater rocks. The death of Odysseus would have been inevitable, he would have been dashed against the cliffs, but even here Pallas Athena helped him. Odysseus managed to grab onto the rock, and the wave, having flown back, tore him off the rock with force and carried him out to sea. Now Odysseus swam along the shore and began to look for a place where he could swim ashore. Finally, he saw the mouth of the river. Odysseus prayed to the river god for help. God heard him, stopped his current and helped Odysseus get to the shore. A mighty hero came ashore, but the long swim weakened him so much that he fell unconscious to the ground. Odysseus came to his senses with great effort. He took off Leukotea’s blanket and, without turning around, threw it into the water. The blanket quickly floated and returned to the hands of the goddess. Odysseus, to the side of the shore, found two densely overgrown olive trees, under which there was a pile of dry leaves. He buried himself in the leaves to protect himself from the night cold, and the goddess Athena plunged him into a deep sleep.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru