evil doom would come upon them if they touched the animals; he
therefore made his companions swear a great oath not to touch them if
they landed. For a whole month they were wind-bound in the island and
ate all the provisions which Circe had given them. At a time when
Odysseus had gone to explore the island Eurylochus persuaded his men
to kill and eat; as he returned Odysseus smelled the savour of their
feast and knew that destruction was at hand. For nine days the
feasting continued. When the ship put out to sea Zeus, in answer to
the prayer of the offended Sun-God, sent a storm which drowned all the
crew and drove Odysseus back to the dreaded strait. Escaping through
it with difficulty, he drifted helplessly over the deep and on the
tenth day landed on the island of "the dread goddess who used human
speech", Calypso, who tended him and kept him in captivity.

On the next day the Phaeacians loaded Odysseus with presents and
landed him on his own island while he slept. Poseidon in anger at the
arrival of the hero changed the returning Phaeacian ship into stone
when it was almost within the harbour of the city. When Odysseus awoke
he failed to recognise his own land. Athena appeared to him disguised
as a shepherd, telling him he was indeed in Ithaca:

"Thou art witless or art come from afar, if thou enquirest about
this land. It is not utterly unknown; many know it who dwell in the
East and in the West. It is rough and unfitted for steeds, yet it is
not a sorry isle, though narrow. It hath plenteous store of corn and
the vine groweth herein. It hath alway rain and glistening dew. It
nourisheth goats and cattle and all kinds of woods and its streams
are everlasting."

Such is the description of the land for which Odysseus forsook