The Journey to Ancient Greece - Chapter 9

. . .continued from Chapter 8

(or start at the beginning)

Later that evening everyone from the village had gathered outside around a warm campfire. The remains of fish bones were piled up just outside the encampment. A couple stacks of emptied wooden bowls gave additional evidence to the big meal that had been consumed. The bowls would be washed later, but first everyone was enjoying a story being told by Vinnie. The flickering fire caused shadows to dance across the faces of the children and adults alike. They were all listening intently as Vinnie spun a tale taken from part of Homer’s The Odyssey. 

Sailing between the two monsters.

          “After escaping the tempting songs of the Sirens, Odysseus and his crew had yet another difficult decision to make,” Vinnie said. “Their path would take them through the Strait of Messina between Sicily and Calabria. Not too far from where we sit now. But in this narrow waterway resided two powerful monsters. On the one side of the straight was Charybdis. Now Charybdis was once a beautiful girl who had special powers over the waters in this area. Her parents were Gaia and Poseidon himself, and Charybdis would use her powers over the water to cause catastrophic tidal waves and typhoons in order to destroy cities and reclaim the land for her parents. In fact, she had become so successful at destroying all the small fishing villages in the area that Zeus had become angry with her, and cursed her. Zeus turned this beautiful woman into a wretched sea monster who took the form of an enormous, ugly abalone with a face.”

Vinnie made an ugly face to some of the younger children to show them what Charybdis looked like. The children’s eyes were as big as saucers as they hung on every word Vinnie said. “But her face was just a giant mouth that did nothing but swallow huge amounts of water three times a day before spewing it back out into the sea again. This created tremendous whirlpools that would draw in any boat that wasn’t paying attention to where it was going.

Scylla

          “On the other side of the straight was an even more horrifying creature, the six-headed monster known as Scylla. Scylla was a terrible sea goddess who loved to feast on the flesh of sailors who passed too close to her. She had six long, scaly necks with six ugly, wretched heads, and mouths lined with three rows of razor sharp teeth. Teeth that were stained with blood and smelled of rotting meat. Her voice was like a terrible dog that was so loud it would burst a man’s eardrums if he got too close.

          “It would be impossible to avoid both creatures, so Odysseus had to decide which one his men would row closer to. He knew that if he got too close to Scylla then each of her six heads would grab one of his men off the boat leaving him with a smaller crew. If they got too close to Charybdis, however, she would drag down his entire boat and all of his men, including himself, would be lost in the whirlpool.

“So Odysseus tried his best to have the boat travel directly between the two monsters. As he did this, he saw Scylla’s six heads rose high out of the water, watching Odysseus’ boat intently while licking her lips and waiting for her next meal to arrive. Odysseus and his men were frightened but brave. They knew that Scylla wouldn’t move too close to Charybdis or she would be pulled down into the whirlpool as well. But when the currents of Charybdis began to pull on the boat Odysseus had his men change direction to avoid being sucked into the whirlpool.  And when he did that…Scylla made her move. Her long, scaly, green necks with the ugly faces on the ends came down and bit on some of the oars the sailors were holding, and she dragged the boat even closer to her. She then quickly snatched up six of Odysseus’ men, and each of her heads began to feed on a sailor; ripping and shredding and eating them alive!”

Odysseus

Some of the children gasped at the intensity of the story. 

Vinnie continued, “Odysseus was horrified, but while the beast was busy eating it gave Odysseus and the rest of his crew time to row past her and onto safety. 

          “Odysseus was devastated!  He had lost six of his best men, and he knew it was his fault. His boat landed on the island of Thrinacia where his shocked and exhausted men got out and tried to get some rest…which is what all of you children need to do now. It’s getting late!”

          Groans rose from all the children, “No, Uncle Vinnie,” they said. “What happens next?”

          “You’ll find out next time. There’s still a long way to go in that story,” said Vinnie. “Time for sleep. All children must get their rest.”

          The rest of the parents helped shepherd their children back towards the village houses. Zammie was wearing one of Vinnie’s extra tunics. It was too big for him, but it had been pinned up around his shoulders so that it wouldn’t drag on the ground. He walked up to Vinnie and asked him, “How long was Odysseus away from home?”

          “Twenty years,” answered Vinnie. “Ten years at war in Troy and ten years to travel back home. He was gone so long that many people in his hometown believed him to be dead.”

           Vinnie noticed that the answer appeared to bother Zammie.

          “You are trying to get home as well, aren’t you, Zamuel?” asked Vinnie.

          “Yes, we are,” said Zammie.

          “Don’t worry. The three of you brought me such good luck today with the catch, I’m sure you will find equal success on the rest of you journey.”

          “We appreciate you taking us to Patras tomorrow,” said Zammie. “I realize that you’ll lose a day of fishing.”

          “It’ll be fine. The other fishermen here are more than capable to cover for me. And I think it’s time for you and your cousin to be getting home as well.”

          Zammie just nodded his head. Once again, a feeling of deep exhaustion began to overtake him.

          “It’s late,” said Vinnie, “and we have a big day tomorrow. Time for you and your friends to rest.”

          Vinnie led Zammie, Kyla, and Argo back to his house where Leela, Mukesh, and Anjeli were unrolling woven mats to sleep on. Their house was small and only consisted of two main rooms. There was a kitchen area with a stove so Leela could cook, and there was the larger front room where the family slept at night and could entertain guests during the day. They had some small wooden chairs and a couple cots for the adults to sleep on, but otherwise there was very little furniture. Many of the Greek houses that were closer to the larger cities were built with a small outdoor courtyard where the family could relax or serve meals, but no such luxuries were to be found for Zammie and Kyla on this night.

Although better than being stowed away on a ship inside a wicker basket, the mats on the hard, dirt floor weren’t the most comfortable setting for Zammie and Kyla. That being said it wasn’t too unfamiliar for them either. Growing up, Kyla and Zammie had spent many nights at their cousins’ house where they had to sleep on the floor because there were too many kids to fit into beds.  They were so tired now that the hard floor really didn’t make a difference. They both fell asleep quickly.

 

To be continued in Chapter 10 . . .  

TIME TRIP ADVENTURE 4

KILLING FOR COUNTRY  

Available at Amazon.com!

TIME TRIP ADVENTURE 1

THE JOURNEY TO ANCIENT GREECE 

Available at Amazon.com!

TIME TRIP ADVENTURE 2

A RIDE ON THE UNDERGROUND RAILROAD

Available at Amazon.com!

TIME TRIP ADVENTURE 3

WITNESS TO THE FIRST THANKSGIVING 

Available at Amazon.com!