Aeolus, the Laestrygonians, Circe

Odysseus's ship reaches the floating island of Aeolus, the keeper of the winds. Aeolus is generous: he gives Odysseus a leather bag containing all the contrary winds, leaving only a fair west wind to blow them home. For nine days they sail. On the tenth, with Ithaca actually in sight on the horizon, Odysseus falls asleep. His crew, who have been resentful of him for hoarding the bag, decide it must be full of gold and open it. The winds escape. They are blown all the way back to Aeolus, who refuses to help them a second time — clearly, he says, the gods are against this man.

They reach the land of the Laestrygonians, a race of cannibal giants. The Laestrygonians stand on the cliffs above the harbor and pelt Odysseus's ships with boulders, smashing them and spearing the men in the water like fish. Of the twelve ships that left Troy, only Odysseus's own ship escapes — and now he is alone with one crew on the open sea. They sail to the island of Aeaea, home of the witch Circe, daughter of the sun. Half his men go to investigate; she invites them in, gives them wine, and turns them all into pigs.

One escapes and runs back to warn Odysseus, who marches toward her palace alone. Hermes meets him on the road, gives him a herb called moly that will protect him from her drugs, and tells him exactly what to do. Odysseus follows the instructions, forces Circe to restore his men, and ends up sharing her bed for a year. When his men finally remind him of home, she gives him the next instruction — he must go to the underworld and consult the prophet Tiresias before he can hope to return. The chapter is a study in diminishing mercies: a god who helps, a race that does not, and a witch who bargains.