Next, Odysseus and his men came to the island of Aiolos Hippotades. There the men spent a month, feasting with the king and his family. When Odysseus finally decided to leave the king's company, he asked for help. The king killed an ox and made it into a bag. In this bag he stored winds that would push Odyseus's ship back towards Ithaca.
The men set off, with Odysseus sailing so that they could get home as soon as possible. After ten days of sailing, they could finally see Ithaca again. That night, Odysseus fell asleep while steering, as he had not slept since they left Hippotades. His men started wondering what was in the bag that Odysseus had been given. They decided to take a look and see, and if it was gold to take some. When the men opened the bag, the wind that came out pushed them all the way back to King Hippotades's house. Odysseus approached the king, and apologized and asked for more help. The king was outraged that Odysseus and his men would dishonor the gods like this.
So, Odysseus and his men sailed on, lost again. After seven days of sailing, they reached a place where night and day came and went quickly. The ships entered a harbor, and Odysseus sent two men ahead to see who the natives of the land were. When they entered the castle of the rulers, they found the queen, who summoned her husband from a town meeting. They were both giants, and grabbed the men to eat for supper. Two got away, but the other was not as fortunate. The men ran back to the ships under fire of rocks thrown by the giants. Odysseus loaded as many people as he could on his ship and sailed away, leaving some of the others.
The next island the one remaining ship reached was Aiaia, where Circe lived. Odysseus pulled his boat into the harbor, and the men sat there lamenting the loss of their companions for two days. On the third day, Odysseus decided to go hunting in the woods. There, he managed to bring down a stag which he carried back to the ship. This lightened to the mood of the men and they all gathered to eat the animal. After they had finished eating, Odysseus split the remaining men into two groups. One, captained by Eurylochos was sent to explore if anyone lived on the island.
Eurylochos's group set off and soon found the house of Circe in a dell. Around her house were wolves and lions that approached the men, but did not harm them. These animals happened to be men that Circe had lured into her home and bewitched them into forgetting their homes and turned them into animals. Odysseus's men heard the sound of Circe singing as she worked at her loom, and were entranced. All of them except Eurylochos decided to go and see who the singer was. They were welcomed in by Circe who offered them something to drink. Eurylochos hing back outside and watched, sensing a trap. Circe put drugs into the drinks of the men that made them forget their home. When they had, she taped each one woth her wand, turning them into pigs.
Eurylochos, seeing this, ran back to the ships to tell Odysseus. Eurylochos recounted the entire tale to Odysseus, who decided to go find Circe for himself. Before Odysseus entered the dell, Hermes appeared to Odysseus, warning him of his fate if he were to go any farther. Odysseus insisted that he must push on, so Hermes gave him a charm to protect him and told him how to avoid Circe's punishments. The charm would protect Odysseus from the drugs and Circe's magic. To make Circe afraid of him, he must rush at her with his sword as if he were going to kill her. At this, Hermes said she would ask Odysseus to sleep with her, but must make her promise first that she would never try to do any harm to him. This being said, Hermes left Odysseus on his own.
Circe welcomed Odysseus into her house, and offered him the usual drugged drink. After tapping him with her wand, Odysseus did what Hermes sid and rushed at her with his sword. At this, Circe fell to her knees and said that he must be Odysseus if he could withstand her magic. She asked him then to put his sword away and sleep with her instead. Odysseus remembered what Hermes had said, and made Circe promise not to do Odysseus any harm first.
When Odysseus still didn't eat, she asked him why, as she had promised not to hurt Odysseus. Odysseus said that he had no apatite for food when his friends were prisoners. Circe opened the pen where Odysseus's former men were, and turned them back into men, but younger then they were before. Circe then told Odysseus to bring up the rest of his men from the shore and let them stay in her house.
When Odysseus reached his ship again, his men were overjoyed at seeing him again. When Odysseus told them that they were going to stay with Circe, they were wary, but eventually agreed. When they reached Circe's house again, she gave them all baths and gave them food. Odysseus stayed on Circe's island for a year, when at last one of Odysseus's men reminded them that they still had a home in Ithaca they needed to go to. That night, Odysseus asked Circe to help him get home. She agreed and told first he must go to Hades's house first. This made Odysseus sad and he sobbed on the floor, but when recovered, Circe told him how to get there.
The next morning, Odysseus awakened his men and told them the plan of going to the house of Hades. The crew was also depressed with the news of the extra voyage, but Odysseus told them it must be done. They gathered their things, and then headed toward their ship to sail away.
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