THE prevailing opinion was that the bulging ox-hide bag contained gold and silver. ‘Bless me,’ they said, ‘how this man is showered with gifts wherever he goes. But have we not travelled as far, and braved the same dangers?’ So at last they loosed the silver thread.

With a whine and a howl the pent up winds rushed out. They began tossing Odysseus’s helpless little ship like matchwood; from north, south and east they battered her, ever further from Ithaca, ever nearer to the Aeolian Islands, where they threw her upon the shore.

When he saw Odysseus standing before him, wet, weary and shamefaced, Aeolus was surprised; but when he heard what had happened any sympathy vanished. He positively refused any further assistance to a man who had so clearly angered the gods. Odysseus turned away sadly. It was a week before his crew sighted new land, and the whole journey was spent rowing, for there was not a breath of wind to help them.