The Island of Choice
It started off as a typical day in Ithaca, the sun was shining, a little music played, the town was peaceful and calm, and there was a pleasant cool breeze in the air. Nothing out of the ordinary. What made the morning extra special was what I found on the ocean shore while fishing this morning. It was a brilliant circular locket made completely out of gold. A heavily detailed grapevine design was all on the outside of the locket. Even the clasp on the chain had amazing workmanship. So as I said, my morning was divine. But then my day made a ninety degree turn….. for the worst.
I am Odysseus, son of Laertes, and this is how my weekend went. After I finished fishing for my dinner, I headed home. As I entered my home, I immediately knew something was wrong. First reason, the breakfast plates hadn't been cleaned and put away yet. Second reason, the person who cleans my plate and her own was nowhere in sight. My dear Penelope wasn't home.
I searched the entire house looking for clues to where she might have gone but I found nothing. I began to worry and was about to go searching around town for her, but then I heard a knock on the door. I opened the door, hoping to see my wife, but instead it was my neighbor Sarlin. He had a worried expression on his face. Before I could invite him into my home, he began talking.
"Odysseus, have you just arrived?"
"Yes Sarlin, I walked through the door only minutes ago."
"I have your wife in my home. You ought to come quick."
We both made a mad dash from my home to his. As we entered the house, I could hear Sarlin's wife singing softly. I entered the room where the singing was coming from and found my wife, Penelope, lying on a bed rapped in blankets and Sarlin's wife, Jenise, singing and feeding my wife soup. Penelope looked awful. Her hair was a rat's nest, her eyes looked like she hadn't slept in days, and she was terribly pale.
"Odysseus, about an hour after you left to fish this morning, I heard a knock on my door. To my surprise your wife was there, she looked dreadful and had a high fever. I had my wife come and help me set her up on one of the guest beds and we gave her a wet cloth and some water."
"Sarlin, I can't thank you enough for taking her in. I should go and request the town doctor's assistance."
"Already taken care of my friend. He should be here within minutes."
Sure enough the doctor came quick and inspected my wife. The whole time he made sounds like, 'Mmhmm', and, 'Ohhh'. When he finally finished he looked to me with a sad expression. He explained to me, her condition. He told me she had a very rare sickness, with only one known cure. I would need a specifically rare spice, only found on one island in the seven seas, to make a cure. I had to make a ridiculously dangerous journey, to Janus' island. The doctor said I only had 48 hours before my wife would die.
So I decided to leave immediately. I gathered 40 of the strongest men in Ithaca who were up to the challenge. One of those men being Sarlin. I didn't have the time to make a proper sacrifice to Poseidon for a safe and quick journey, so I kneeled and prayed, hoping that would suffice. We all boarded a large boat, and cast off onto the ocean. After we cast off the sky looked darker for some reason. It didn't put me in a doubtful mood, but it seemed to intimidate the others. I assured them that this mission would be a success. I had a detailed map of how to get to the island that the doctor had given me.
The ocean was rough; the waves bashed us on all sides. It felt unnatural, so I got to a high spot on the deck and looked out over the water. In the distance I could see a shape coming toward us and it was large. It's many legs that it used to paddle through the water, were causing these waves. Once it was close enough, it looked to be a giant centipede in the water, but with a serpent head. It got even closer and was about to strike my ship.
I took the first twenty men in the boat and lined them up. I knew we had to escape and quickly. There was no way we could kill something that huge without injuries and we had to keep moving so I told the men:
"Men, we need to make a getaway. Take out your spears and arrows and aim for the eyes. Do not stop till I say so."
So they began shooting arrows and throwing spears at the monster. I prayed to Artemis to guide their soaring weapons, hoping they would hit the target. On Sarlin's third try he took out one of the beast's eyes. It made a blood curdling shriek and became furious. It clapped one of it's many legs on the surface of the water only two feet from the ships bow and nearly flipped us. One man went overboard and was lost to the sea.
One of my archers notched his last arrow and made a desperate shot at the monsters other eye. It made a direct and accurate hit. The creature shrieked once more and had obviously had enough, it began to swim away with an arrow in each of it's eyes. My men cheered and I promised them each a bit of wine once we reached the shore of Janus' island, which I could see in the far distance.
All that was visible on the small island was a large marble boulder. I became suspicious; I knew the doctor hadn't called it ridiculously dangerous for nothing. As I promised, I passed out wine to all 39 men. Once they finished, I made an announcement:
"I would like to thank you all for having the guts to volunteer for this trip. Now, I must ask some of you to volunteer again for something that is much more dangerous. We will approach Janus and collect what we came here for, but it could possibly come at a price. Any up to the challenge?"
Only five raised their hand, and luckily, five was all I needed. I accepted their help and we left the ship. As we approached, I noticed one side of the boulder was flat and smooth. On it's surface were two cedar doors and standing between the doors was a strange man in a black tunic with sandals. What made him strange was his head… he had two faces. The face on his left had an angry and unhappy expression, with brown eyes and a little mustache. His right face looked more pleasant and friendly, with blue eyes and a barely visible beard.
We stopped in front of him and immediately my men and I all had chains around our left ankle that attached to each other. We couldn't leave each other and we couldn't run, so Janus began to speak.
"Welcome Odysseus and company to my island. I am Janus, god of beginnings, choices, doors, and endings. I know what you have come for and I know how you can obtain it. On both sides of me there is a door. One leads to what you seek, and the other leads to your demise. You and your group must choose wisely. You have a minute to make your decision."
The way he said that last sentence almost sounded like a threat, but I wasn't intimidated. I knew which door to choose.
"I say we go through the door to his left. I am confident that is the correct door."
My men looked at the expression on Janus' left face, then to the door on that side and looked back to me skeptically. They didn't buy a single word I said.
"Not to disrespect our captain, but I say we put the decision to a vote." Said one of my men. They all agreed to the idea, but I knew their choice would be the death of us all.
"Those who would like to go through the door on Janus' left side?" Only I raised my hand. "Those who would like to go to his right?" And the decision was unanimous; Janus heard our decision and opened the right door with a big smile on his right face.
In a menacing voice Janus said,"You ignorant men should have listened to your captain." And as my men screamed he pushed us through the doorway and into the dark abyss. We were forced to walk five feet and then all of a sudden we fell and slid down a ramp that went down at least 30 feet. When we reached the bottom my head was hit on something hard and I slipped into unconsciousness.
I woke up feeling dazed and I had a large lump on my head. I noticed my five men and I were in a large bronze cage, but we were no longer chained together by the ankle. We were somewhere underground in a large room with tall stone pillars. At one end of the room was a gold throne and at the other end were two large doors. In the center of the room was a garden with a beautiful tree in it. The tree gave off a faint glow that made it look timeless and sacred.
As the others were waking up around me, one of the large doors at the end of the room opened and in walked a young woman. She wore an emerald gown and had flowers braided into her dark brown hair. She walked over to our cage with grace as her gown flowed behind her. She was almost as beautiful as my lovely Penelope. Almost.
"Good morning, gentlemen. I am Donella. Welcome to your temporary prison." She said "good morning". That meant I had only a couple hours before I would loose Penelope forever.
"Lady Donella, I am Odysseus, son of the king of Ithaca, we have only come to take a few spices from your tree there. My wife's life is in peril."
"I have heard the same request from others like yourself, all they ask is for some spices. Once they obtain them, they leave without thanking me or giving me something in return. I have lived everyday of my life caring for this tree with no reward. So now I just kill them as they come from Janus. Much easier."
I could tell she was telling the truth. She had this old look in her eyes, as if she had gone through so much in her life and had obtained nothing. I felt sorry for her, but I had to keep my mind focused on getting those spices. At that moment the cage walls began to slowly enclose on my men and I. I had to think fast.
"Donella, play a quick game with me won't you?" Suddenly the cage walls stopped and I knew I had her attention.
"What kind of game?"
"Your choice. If I win, my men and I go free with the spices. If you win, you kill us. Agreed?"
"Sounds fair enough. Here is my game." She let me free from the cage and brought three gold figurines and a piece of blue cloth. One figurine was a Cyclops, another was a man, and the last was a sheep. Then she explained the game.
"You must move each golden piece across this blue cloth that symbolizes a river. You may only move one of the three pieces at a time across the river. Keep in mind if the Cyclops is left alone with the human the Cyclops would kill it, and you lose. If the human is left alone with the sheep the human would eat it, and you would lose. You have one try to get it right. Be wise Odysseus."
I looked at the game, thinking for a minute then I began moving pieces. First I moved the human across; she didn't say anything about the Cyclops hurting the sheep so I knew it would be fine. Then I moved the sheep across, once across I placed the sheep and picked up the man and took him back to the other side. Then I put the man down and took the Cyclops and moved it to where the sheep was. Lastly I went back to the other side and moved the human across one final time. Now they were all on the other side with each other, and the puzzle was finished.
Donella had been watching me the whole time to make sure I didn't cheat and when I was finished she unlocked my men.
"You have completed my puzzle and are free to leave," she said in a sad voice.
My men and I headed toward the door with the spices, but then I stopped and walked back over to Donella. I looked her in the eyes for a moment and then took something out of my pocket. It was the beautiful golden locket I had found on the beach the morning before. I handed it to Donella and smiled. She put it around her neck and thanked me. I kissed her on the cheek and went and joined my men. As I left the room I swore Donella had looked a little different; she seemed to have a soft glow around her that only made her more beautiful.
The men on my ship cheered as I a climbed onto the deck. They patted me on the back and congratulated me as we prepared to cast off back to Ithaca. The whole way back was smooth sailing and very relaxing. I conquered a sea monster, approached a god, and met a nice young woman who only needed a little gratitude. So when I saw the shore of Ithaca, I felt relieved because I knew my wife was going to live.