Having escaped the Cyclops, Odysseus and his men arrive at the home of Aeolus, master of the winds, where they are greeted warmly and hosted for a month. Eager to move on, Odysseus receives an ox-skin pouch from Aeolus. In it are captured all the winds that might drive the ships off course. Only the West Wind is left free to blow them toward Ithaca. After ten days of sailing, the Greeks are so close to home that they can actually see men tending fires on their island. Exhausted, Odysseus falls asleep. Curious and suspicious, his men open the ox skin expecting to find treasure and inadvertently release heavy squalls that blow them right back to Aeolus’ island. The wind god refuses to help them further.
With no favoring wind at all, the Greeks must row, and they come upon the land of the Laestrygonians, cannibalistic giants who suddenly attack and devour the seamen, hurling boulders at the ships and spearing the men like so many fish. Only Odysseus’ vessel escapes. It sails to the island of Aeaea, home of the beautiful but dangerous goddess Circe, whom Odysseus can overcome only through the intervention of Hermes, messenger of the gods and son of Zeus.
