Abstract

On the morning of the third day on Circe's island of Aeaea, Odysseus takes sword and spear in hand and leaves his demoralized and exhausted crew to seek out some sign of habitation. Eventually, from the height of a rocky point, he spies smoke rising in the distance. After debating with himself whether or not to investigate immediately, he determines first to return to his ships, in order to see about his comrades' dinner. Returning to the beach, he encounters an enormous stag, which he takes to have been sent by a god who pitied him and which he kills, binds with a makeshift rope of brushwood and willow branches, and drags back to the camp.