Friendly Feasting on an Isolated Isle

On the fortieth day of our tour, after we had travelled across Achaea, my crew’s pleading for solid ground and a full night’s rest brought us scudding into the port of a mossy island. A group of fisherman sitting at the dock helped us to moor our ship, and children playing nearby stopped to look at the flags strung from our masts. They ran away and returned within a few minutes leading a crowd of onlookers. 

As we disembarked, the men advised me to head towards King Odysseus’ palace, saying he would host us; the mountainous kingdom, interspersed with rock crags and thatched-roof houses, had on its hill a large house, and the men pointed towards it. I recognized this name and instructed my men to gather goods to present as gifts. A path led up from the harbor, and we followed it for a few minutes before reaching the stoop of Odysseus’ palace. 

Passing the windows, I saw many a maid and servant hurrying around with trays, bedroom linens, and jars of bathing oil balanced on his or her arm, and before we had knocked, the palace doors swung open. A moment later, I heard a loud laugh and spotted a short-legged man, clad in bright silks, approaching from the hallway leading into the house. He stepped in front of servants gathered at attention in the foyer, and a short, blonde woman followed behind him. The man, who I had never met, walked up and wrapped his arms around me in a hug, then turned and introduced himself to my crew,inviting us to stay, rest, and present ourselves shortly at a feast in our honor. Odysseus’ slaves helped me to bathe and dress in clean robes, leading me down the stairs and through a series of dim hallways to the great hall, where we sat down at an oaken table. I had been placed nearest to the head of the table, and when Odysseus took his seat shortly after, we began to converse. 

As attendants passed around slabs of roasted meat and poured cups of wine, Penelope, the blonde woman I had seen earlier, joined her husband, who complimented on the build of my ship. I told him about my crew and I, who make our living by sailing to the cities of the world and selling slaves (the strongest or most beautiful of the people conquered by Sparta) to their kings. Hearing this, Odysseus smiled and asked after Menelaus, the king of my homeland. I told the King and Queen about Helen’s infidelity, which led her to elope with a Trojan prince. 

For a moment, Odysseus did not speak; in the break in conversation, I overheard a joke told between the sailors seated beside me, and I began to laugh along with them. When I had regained control of my laughter, I took a sip of wine and turned back to the King and Queen, opening my mouth to apologize for my rudeness in turning away. As I faced them, Odysseus’ gaze remained focused on his untouched plate, and his hand gripped his full goblet of wine. His face, unblinking, had paled. I looked at Penelope, whose eyes had become so wide that I could make out the outline of each individual eyelash, but she in turn did not move her gaze from her husband’s face. In the silence, I heard myself begin to speak, telling the mythologized stories of Helen’s infidelities, and Penelope’s eyes then moved quickly to my face. She looked at me for a moment and I stopped speaking. Then, before a silence could form, she grasped my arm and waved over an attendant, calling for wine with a high-pitched laugh.

3 Main Choices: In “Friendly Feasting On an Isolated Isle”” I began with a description of the slave traders’ weariness to make the narrator more sympathetic; while holding the job of slave trader clearly indicates negative character traits, I wanted the reader to take their retelling seriously, so I attempted to cast the narrator as a supplicant, in need of shelter and food, by including sentiments like “my crew’s pleading for solid ground and a full night’s rest brought us scudding into the port.” I also purposely juxtaposed Odysseus’ extensive legacy with his unglamourous kingdom by noting the slave trader’s recognition of Odysseus’ name directly after describing the backwater, unfamiliar island (“the mountainous kingdom... I recognized this name”), and by doing so, I hoped to contrast Odysseus’ fame with the less glorious landscape of his kingdom, which would imply that he chose to live on the island despite illustrious accomplishment, which foreshadows the overruling of this choice when he has to go to war. Finally, I simplifed the main exchange between Odysseus and his guest to make each interaction leading up to Odysseus’ silence seem normal, and to do this, I minimized the time spent retelling parts of the exchange, particularly those I emphasized in earlier versions; for example, instead of talking extensively about how the captain gossiped, I brushed over those moments with “I told the King and Queen about Helen’s infidelity,” which conveyed that, to the narrator, such discussions occurred regularly and did not seem strange, and further highlighted the unusual severity of Odysseus’ reaction to the news.