Ere long they reached another island, where dwelt a great enchantress, Circe of the golden tresses, whose palace Eurylochus discovered.  Within they heard Circe singing, so they called to her and she came forth and bade them enter.  Heedlessly they followed her, all but Eurylochus.  Then Circe smote them with her magic wand and they were turned into swine.

When Odysseus heard what had befallen his men he was very angry and would have slain her with his sword.  But Circe cried:  “Sheathe thy sword, I pray thee, Odysseus, and let us be at peace.”  Then said Odysseus:  “How can I be at peace with thee, Circe?  How can I trust thee?” Then Circe promised to do Odysseus no harm, and to let him return in safety to his home.

Then she opened the doors of the sty and waved her wand.  And the swine became men again even handsomer and stronger than before.

For a whole year Odysseus and his men stayed in the palace, feasting and resting.  When they at last set sail again the sorceress told Odysseus of many dangers he would meet on his homeward voyage, and warned him how to escape from them.

In an island in the blue sea through which the ship of Odysseus would sail toward home, lived some beautiful mermaids called Sirens.  Even more beautiful than the Sirens’ faces were their lovely voices by which they lured men to go on shore and there slew them.  In the flowery meadows were the bones of the foolish sailors who had seen only the lovely faces and long, golden hair of the Sirens, and had lost their hearts to them.

Against these mermaids Circe had warned Odysseus, and he repeated her warnings to his men.

Following her advice he filled the ears of the men with wax and bade them bind him hand and foot to the mast.

Past the island drove the ship, and the Sirens seeing it began their sweet song.  “Come hither, come hither, brave Odysseus,” they sang.  Then Odysseus tried to make his men unbind him, but Eurylochus and another bound him yet more tightly to the mast.

When the island was left behind, the men took the wax from their ears and unbound their captain.  After passing the Wandering Rocks with their terrible sights and sounds the ship came to a place of great peril.  Beyond them were yet two huge rocks between which the sea swept.

One of these ran up to the sky, and in this cliff was a dark cave in which lived Scylla a horrible monster, who, as the ship passed seized six of the men with her six dreadful heads.

In the cliff opposite lived another terrible creature called Charybdis who stirred the sea to a fierce whirlpool.

By a strong wind the ship was driven into this whirlpool, but Odysseus escaped on a broken piece of wreckage to the shores of an island.

On this island lived Calypso of the braided tresses, a goddess feared by all men.  But, to Odysseus she was very kind and he soon became as strong as ever.