The Odyssey

Island of Aeolia

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Odysseus and his men keep sailing and they find an island floating above the sea with a steep cliff of bronze with a palace on top of it. They have  come upon the island of Aeolia, home of Aeolus, god of wind. Aeolus lives there with his six sons and six daughters. Aeolus treated Odysseus with much kindness and encouraged him to tell him stories of Troy and his travels homeward. Odysseus had so many stories, and Aeolus and his children enjoyed them so much, that Odysseus remained on that island for a month! After a month, Odysseus decided it was time to continue his journey, and Aeolus thanked him, and gifted him with a bag tied with a silver cord. In the bag, he had bound up all the winds but the kind and gentle west wind, in order to help Odysseus in his travels. Odysseus sets back and sails for nine days. The wind being so favorable, they can see Ithaca. Odysseus' men are so curious about what is in the bag though, that they open it up and all the harsher winds are let loose and it carries them to unknown seas.