Odysseus and many other men went back to Troy to fight a mighty battle under their walls. One of the men fighting on Odysseus’ side was Achilles, who was known among many as “god among men.” Towards the end of the battle Achilles was killed by the Trojans. This made Odysseus and his army want to kill the Trojans more than they ever wanted.
That night the Greece built a giant wooden horse and hid inside of it. When the Greece found it they thought it as a trophy for them winning the war. A soothsayer tried to warn the Trojans not to take the horse, but then he was killed by a sea serpent, which was sent from the god of the sea Poseidon. The Trojans wheeled the giant horse into the city.
That night while they were all sleeping the Greeks came out of the horse and killed the Trojans. They conquered Troy. Now Odysseus was going to go back to his kingdom. The sea god, Poseidon, was very angry. He said that Odysseus was taking all of the credit and not thanking him for his serpent that he sent to kill the man who was trying to tell the Trojans not to except gifts from the Greece. Poseidon said that he was going to stop Odysseus from getting back to his wife and son at the kingdom of Ithaca.
When Odysseys had been gone for about 10 years his mother heard that he had been slain by the Trojans. So she walked out to sea and took her own life. While Odysseus and his crew were trying to sail their ship towards Ithaca, they came ashore the island of the Cyclops. There they found a cave with milk and cheese. There were also many goats and sheep.
While they were eating and drinking the food of the Cyclops, the Cyclops came back to his cave and ate one of their men. Odysseys did not want him and the rest of his men to die so he gave the Cyclops a giant bowl of wine and told him to drink it--that it was the drink of the gods. The Cyclops did drink the wine and it made him get drunk and pass out.
While he was sleeping the men took a long pole and stuck it in his one and only eye, blinding him. This made him jump to his feet and all of the men ran outside with his sheep and goats. But the Cyclops caught one more of the men and ate him before he could get out of the cave.
Later they came to another island where they could not find any food. Some of the men went to try and hunt for some wild animals. After they were gone for a while a pig came to the spot on the island where the rest of the men were. They were trying to catch it to eat it, but then one of the men who was hunting came and said not to eat the pig-- that it was the other man who went hunting. He said that a evil sorceress turned him into a pig. Also, all of the other men who went hunting into all different beasts.
Odysseus went to go find the sorceress to find out if she was really turning the men into beasts. On his way there he saw the messenger god who gave him a plant and told him that if he ate the plant, then the sorceresses spell would not be effective on him. So he climbed up to where he saw the palace of the goddess who had turned his friends into beasts. He went into the palace and threatened her with a sword, and she said that she would turn the beasts back into men if he took her to bed.
Odysseus accepted her offer, because you can not resist a goddess. He was in bed with her for what seemed to him like five days. But really outside of the walls of the palace this time was five years. So he ran outside and his ship was half buried in the sand. He dug the ship up and him and his men set sail for Ithaca once again.
The goddess told Odysseus of a man who knew a way to Ithaca. This man was dead so Odysseus was going to have to go visit the underworld to find him. To get to the underworld he would have to cross the river of fire. Once he did this he had to let the ghost that he wanted to talk to drink blood from his sacrifice. Once he found the man that the goddess had told him of he let him drink of the blood. The man told Odysseus the way back to Ithaca. On Odysseus’ way out he saw the spirit of his mother and he let her drink the rest of the blood of his sacrifice. She told him that she took her own life in grief because of his not returning.
After he left he followed the advice of the dead old man who he had just spoken to. So he went to an island where there were a lot of men. When they asked for his name he told them that he was a great hero. They said that the only great hero that they did not already know was Odysseus. They were very surprised and grateful to have him on their island when he said that he was Odysseus, the long lost hero.
They gave him a ship with lots of food for him to take back to Ithaca. When he got back to Ithaca he saw an old man who went and got prince Telemachus. When Odysseus told his son who he was he did not believe him but finally he did. Telemachus told him of many men who believed that he was dead that came to try and get Queen Penelope to marry them.
Later when Odysseus was by himself, the goddess of wisdom appeared and transformed him into an old man to where only the young prince would know that it was him. The next morning Telemachus took him in as his guest. One day Penelope was going to have a contest to see which of the men she would marry. She lined many axes in a row and said that the first man to shoot a arrow through all of them would be her new husband.
After all of the men had tried and failed, Odysseus did and succeeded. But when he did he turned back into his true self. Then they locked the doors and killed all of the men.
Then Odysseus and Penelope were reunited.
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