he hides of the slaughtered
animals to creep and the joints on the spits to bellow like living cattle,
and threatened that unless Zeus punished the impious crew he would withdraw
his light from the heavens and shine only in Hades. Anxious to appease the
enraged deity Zeus assured him that his cause should be avenged. When,
therefore, after feasting for seven days Odysseus and his companions again
set sail, the ruler of Olympus caused a terrible storm to overtake them,
during which the ship was struck with lightning and went to pieces. All the
crew were drowned except Odysseus, who, clinging to a mast, floated about
in the open sea for nine days, when, after once more {317} escaping being
sucked in by the whirlpool of Charybdis, he was cast ashore on the island
of Ogygia.

CALYPSO.--Ogygia was an island covered with dense forests, where, in the
midst of a grove of cypress and poplar, stood the charming grotto-palace of
the nymph Calypso, daughter of the Titan Atlas. The entrance to the grotto
was entwined with a leafy trellis-work of vine-branches, from which
depended clusters of purple and golden grapes; the plashing of fountains
gave a delicious sense of coolness to the air, which was filled with the
songs of birds, and the ground was carpeted with violets and mosses.

Calypso cordially welcomed the forlorn and shipwrecked hero, and hospitably
ministered to his wants. In the course of time she became so greatly
attached to him that she offered him immortality and eternal youth if he
would consent to remain with her for ever. But the heart of Odysseus turned
yearningly towards his beloved wife Penelope and his young son. He
therefore refused the boon, and earnestly entreated the gods to permit him
to revisit his home. But the curse of Poseidon still followed the
unfortunate hero, and for seven long years he was detained on the island by
Calypso, sorely against his will.

At length Pallas-Athene interceded with her mighty father on his behalf,
and Zeus, yielding to her request, forthwith despatched the fleet-footed
Hermes to Calypso, commanding her to permit Odysseus to depart and to
provide him with the means of transport.

The goddess, though loath to part with her guest, dared not disobey the
commands of the mighty Zeus. She therefore instructed the hero how to
construct a raft, for which she herself wove the sails. Odysseus now bade
her farewell, and alone and unaided embarked on the frail little craft for
his nat