Land of the Dead
Storyboard Text
- . When we got there we beached the ship, tookthe sheep out of her, and went along by the waters of Oceanus till we came to the place of which Circehad told us.
- When I had prayed sufficiently to the dead, I cutthe throats of the two sheep and let the blood run into the trench, whereon the ghosts came trooping upfrom Erebus
- 'Odysseus, noble son of Laertes, why, poor man, have you left the light of day and come down to visit the dead in this sad place? Stand back from the trench and withdraw your sword that I may drink of the blood and answer your questions truly.'
- . Even though you may yourself escape,you will return in bad plight after losing all your men, [in another man's ship, and you will find trouble inyour house, which will be overrun by high-handed people, who are devouring your substance under thepretext of paying court and making presents to your wife."'When you get home you will take your revenge on these suitors; and after you have killed themby force or fraud in your own house
- "On this the ghost of Teiresias went back to the house of Hades, for his prophecyings had nowbeen spoken, but I sat still where I was until my mother came up and tasted the blood.
- Isee my poor mother's ghost close by us; she is sitting by the blood without saying a word, and though Iam her own son she does not remember me and speak to me; tell me, Sir, how I can make her know me.'
- "'That,I can soon do. Any ghost that you let taste of the blood will talk with you like areasonable being, but if you do not let them have any blood they will go away again.'
- "'Mother,' said I, 'I was forced to come here to consult the ghost of the Theban prophet Teiresias. Ihave never yet been near the Achaean land nor set foot on my native country, and I have had nothing butone long series of misfortunes from the very first day that I set out
- 'Your wife still remains in your house, but she is in great distress of mindand spends her whole time in tears both night and day. No one as yet has got possession of your fineproperty, and Telemachus still holds your lands undisturbed. He has to entertain largely, as of course hemust, considering his position as a magistrate, and how every one invites him; your father remains at hisold place in the country and never goes near the town. He has no comfortable bed nor bedding; in thewinter he sleeps on the floor in front of the fire with the men and goes about all in rags, but in summer,when the warm weather comes on again, he lies out in the vineyard on a bed of vine leaves thrown anyhow upon the ground. He grieves continually about your never having come home, and suffers more andmore as he grows older. As for my own end it was in this wise: heaven did not take me swiftly andpainlessly in my own house, nor was I attacked by any illness such as those that generally wear peopleout and kill them, but my longing to know what you were doing and the force of my affection for you—thisit was that was the death of me.'
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