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The Bag of Winds: Odysseus Almost Reaches Home
Episode 5 of The Voyage of Odysseus. On the floating bronze island of Aeolia, Odysseus is given a sack of all the storm winds. Within sight of Ithaca, his crew opens it, and the tempests drive them back and into exile.
The idea
Previously: Having barely escaped the blinded Cyclops Polyphemus, Odysseus revealed his true name in reckless pride, calling down the wrathful curse of Poseidon upon his ships. This episode: Seeking refuge on the floating bronze island of Aeolia, Odysseus secures hospitality and an ox-hide sack containing all the tempestuous winds, leaving only a gentle breeze to guide his fleet home. But as the long-sought watchfires of Ithaca finally appear on the horizon, Odysseus collapses from exhaustion, and his envious crew unties the bag in search of hidden treasure. The howling tempests violently blow
What the video says
Episode 5. The story keeps going. Odysseus just blinded the Cyclops. And now Poseidon's curse is on his ships. The fleet drifts to a floating island made of bronze. This is Aeolia. Aeolus lives here. He keeps the winds. He feeds the crew for a whole month. Then he gives Odysseus a bag made of ox hide, tied tight with silver wire. All the storm winds are inside. Only a soft west breeze is free. It will carry the ships home. They sail nine days and nine nights. Odysseus holds the steering oar himself. He trusts nobody else with it. He doesn't sleep. Then on the tenth night, you see tiny fires on a dark shore. Ithaca. His home. So close he can see men tending the fires. And after all those years, his body just quits. Odysseus drops down by the oar, and he's out. But the crew has been eyeing that bag. They whisper in the dark. Gold, they say. Silver. Treasure the god gave their captain and kept from them. Odysseus is asleep. Shaky hands pick at the silver wire. They pull it loose. Boom! The winds burst out, loud like a thousand beasts. The storm rips the sails. Men crash onto the deck. And the whole fleet gets blown back across the sea, away from Ithaca. Odysseus wakes up to the roar, and he gets it. They're blown back to Aeolia. He begs the god for help one more time. Aeolus won't even look at him kindly. "Go," he says. "A man the gods hate cannot be helped." So they're thrown out. The crew sits at the oars. They've got no strength left. They row for six days. Then a narrow, dark fjord opens up between the cliffs.