After leaving the land of the Cyclops, Odysseus and his men sailed to a floating island. It belonged to Aeolus, the keeper of the winds.

Aeolus was a kind host. For a whole month, he gave Odysseus and his men food and wine, and he listened to their stories about the war. When it was time to leave, he gave Odysseus a special present: a leather bag tied with a silver string.

"All the strong winds are inside this bag," Aeolus said. "I have left only the gentle west wind outside. It will carry you home. But do not open the bag."

The ships sailed for nine days and nine nights. Odysseus did not sleep at all. He held the ropes of his ship himself, because he did not want anyone else to make a mistake. On the tenth day, they saw Ithaca. They were so close that they could see people making fires on the beach.

Then Odysseus, very tired, fell asleep.

His men looked at the leather bag. "What is inside?" they said to each other. "Gold and silver, of course. Aeolus gave our captain a rich present, and he wants to keep it all for himself. We fought in the war too, and we are going home with empty hands."

So they opened the bag.

At once, all the winds rushed out. A great storm picked up the ships and carried them far away from Ithaca, all the way back to the island of Aeolus. Odysseus woke up and saw what had happened. He was so sad that he thought about jumping into the sea.

He went to Aeolus and asked for help again. But this time, the keeper of the winds was angry. "Go away!" he shouted. "The gods must hate you. I will not help a man the gods hate."

Now there was no wind at all, so the men had to row. Six days later, they came to a harbor with high cliffs on both sides. Eleven ships went inside the harbor, but Odysseus kept his own ship outside, tied to a rock.

He sent three men to find out who lived there. They met a girl getting water, and she took them to her father's house. Her father was the king of the Laestrygonians. When he came home, the men saw that he was a giant, and that he was hungry. He grabbed one of them and ate him. The other two ran back to the ships.

Then thousands of giants came to the top of the cliffs. They threw huge rocks down at the ships in the harbor. The ships broke into pieces, and the giants caught the men in the water like fish.

Odysseus cut the rope of his ship with his sword. "Row for your lives!" he shouted. His men rowed as hard as they could, and they escaped. But the other eleven ships were lost. Only one ship was left.

Sad and afraid, they sailed on until they reached another island. Odysseus climbed a hill and saw smoke from a house in the middle of the woods. He divided his men into two groups. One group stayed with him at the ship. The other group, led by a man named Eurylochus, went to find the house.

The house was made of stone, and it stood in an open place in the woods. Wolves and lions walked around it, but they did not attack. They wagged their tails like dogs. Inside, a woman was singing beautifully. She was Circe, a goddess and a witch.

Circe opened her doors and invited the men in. Only Eurylochus stayed outside, because he did not trust her. She gave the others a drink of cheese, honey, and wine. But she had secretly mixed magic into it. When the men drank it, she touched them with her magic stick. At once, they turned into pigs. They had the heads, the bodies, and the voices of pigs, but inside, they still had human minds. Circe locked them in a pig house and gave them nuts to eat.

Eurylochus ran back to the ship and told Odysseus everything. Odysseus took his sword and started to walk to the house alone.

On the way, he met a young man. It was the god Hermes. "You cannot fight Circe's magic without help," Hermes said. He gave Odysseus a plant with a black root and a white flower. "Eat this, and her magic will not work on you. When she touches you with her stick, pull out your sword. Make her promise to do you no harm."

Everything happened as Hermes said. Circe gave Odysseus the drink, but nothing happened. When she touched him with her stick, he pulled out his sword. Circe fell to her knees in surprise. "You must be Odysseus," she said. "Hermes told me that one day you would come."

Odysseus made her promise to do no harm. Then she turned his men back into humans. They looked younger and stronger than before.

Circe was now very kind to them. She gave them good food, warm baths, and soft beds. The days were so pleasant that the men stayed a whole year.

Finally, the men came to Odysseus. "Have you forgotten Ithaca?" they asked. Odysseus remembered his wife and son, and he asked Circe to let them go.

"You may go," Circe said. "But first you must make a long trip. You must go to the land of the dead and speak to the ghost of Tiresias, the blind prophet. Only he can tell you how to get home."

Odysseus felt his heart break. No living man had ever gone to the land of the dead. But he had no choice.