Books 9-12

Books 9-12 are Told as a Flashback

Book 9 -  Book 9 starts with Odysseus telling the story of him and his men in the city of the Cicones, plundering for gold. Eventually, the people who live there attack Odysseus, and he loses 6 men per ship. After that, Zeus sends a storm after them, getting them lost for 9 days until they show up at the island of the lotus eaters. As soon as Odysseus's men eat the fruit, they forget all about home and don't want to leave. After the island of the lotus eaters, they sail until they come up to the Island of the Cyclops. They dock their boat and have a feast of goats before exploring the island. They come across the cave of Polythemos, and Odysseus's men encourage him to take the crates of milk and cheese and let them leave, but he decided they would all wait here. When Polythemos arrives, he's nice at first, but turns hostile instantly eating two of Odysseus's men and trapping the rest for future meals. Odysseus wants to kill him then and there, but only he is strong enough to move the boulder door, so he comes up with a plan for revenge. The next day, when Polythemos is outside with his sheep, Odysseus finds a wooden staff in the cave and hardens it in a fire. When the cyclops comes back, Odysseus gets him drunk on wine, tells him his name is Noman, and he soon passes out. Once that happens, Odysseus and his men take the staff and stab it through Polythemos's eye, blinding him. He calls out that no man is killing him, so the other cyclops don't come and help. Before leaving, Odysseus tells the cyclops his real name and accomplishments, and Polythemos says a prayer to poseidon to avenge his eye.

Book 10 - Book 10 starts with Odysseus and crew sailing from the land of the Cyclops to the home of Aelous. At this Island, Aelous gifts Odysseus with a bag of winds so he can get home faster. When they are within sight of Ithaca, Odysseus's men open the bag out of greed, thinking its a bag of silver, which sends them back to the home of Aelous. He refuses to help them this time, thinking the gods must hate him. From there, Odysseus's men row to an island inhabited by giants who eat Odysseus's scouts and sink his ships with boulders; only Odysseus's ship survives. The one ship then makes its way to Aeaea, the island where Circe lives. She drugs a few of Odysseus's men and turns them into pigs. When Odysseus goes to rescue them, he is confronted by Hermes and given a herb called Moly that will make him immune to the witch's spells. At her house, when her magic fails, Odysseus leaps at her, pretending he's going to kill her, and forces her to turn his men back into humans. He then becomes her lover, and is tricked into staying on the island for a year, before his men snap him out of it. When asked for a way back to Ithaca, Circe says that he will have to go to Hades and ask the spirit of Tiresias

Book 11 - Book 11 starts with Odysseus's ship sailing into Hades where Odysseus pours blood and allows the spirits to drink it for they will give him answers. The first spirit he talks to is of one of his crewmen who fell of a roof while drunk and broke his neck on Circe's Island. He begs Odysseus to go back to the Isle to bury him. He then speaks to Tiresias who says that Posiedon is after them because they blinded his son, and he reveals Odysseus's fate; He will get home, slay the suitors, and then travel again to please Posiedon. After Tiresias Odysseus talks to other spirits; his mother, who updates him on the events of Ithaca, and various heroes including Ajax and Achilles. He then stops talking and asks Alcinoos if he can go to bed now, but he urges Odysseus to say if he met any Troy heroes in Hades. Odysseus says he met: Agamemnom, Achilles, Ajax, Herceles, King Minos, and many more. He also sees Sisyphus and Tantalus before being scared back to his ship by all the spirits wanting to know about their families.

Book 12 - Book 12 begins with Odysseus returning to Aeaea to bury Elpenor and spend a final night with Circe. She tells him of the obstacles he's going to face on his way home and how to avoid them. The first obstacle was the sirens, which lure you with your song to drown you; Odysseus had his men plug their ears with beeswax and tie him to the mast for he could safely hear the songs. The next threat is Scylla and Charybdis; Scylla is a six headed monster who eats one person per head from passing ships, while Charybdis is a giant whirlpool that threatens to eat the whole ship. They go along the cliff wall looking at the whirlpool, when Scylla comes down and eats 6 men. Odyesseus's next stop is the island of the Sun, He wants to avoid it but Eurylochus persuades him to let his men rest here. A storm keeps them beached for a month, where they use their ship provisions to stay alive until they run out. Eurylochus persuades them to kill and eat one of the Sun's cattle while Odysseus sleeps, and when they do, the Sun asks Zeus to punish Odysseus and his men, and he sends another storm that kills everyone but Odysseus. He barely survives the storm and is then swept back to the whirlpool, only to end up on Calypso's Island where he ends his story.