The Odyssey (summed up in 6 pages)

The Odyssey is an epic written by the ancient Greek writer Homer. The story starts when a Greek soldier called Odysseus was sailing home from the Trojan War.  He and his fellow soldiers found themselves stranded on an island populated with cyclopes. Big one-eyed giants! They explored the island and found a cave belonging to Polyphemus, Poseidon, the sea god's, son. They found cheese, milk, and goats! The men wanted to take a few goats, some cheese, and bring them to their ship, but Odysseus wanted to stay a bit. But after a little while, Polyphemus came back! Then he pushed a giant boulder in the entrance, so they couldn't escape! He thundered toward them, and shoved 2 of Odysseus's men inside his mouth! Then he laid 

 laid down, and fell asleep. The men were terrified. Later, he woke up, moved the boulder, and let his sheep out. He gobbled up a couple more men and fell back asleep. "Listen 

everyone," Odysseus said, "if we don't act soon, the cyclops will eat us all!" The men agreed. "Here's the plan. …" The cyclops woke up. But before he could grab any more men, Odysseus held up some wine he had brought and said, "Cyclops, would you care for some wine?" Polyphemus had never had wine before so he took the jug and drank the whole thing. He immediately got drunk. Before passing out, he asked Odysseus what his name was. "Nobody." The hero lied. When Polyphemus fell asleep, Odysseus and his men got a large pointy stick, and pushed it into the cyclops's eye! "YOW!" 

Polyphemus shrieked. "Help me, Help me!!!!" The other cyclops came running to his cave. "Who is killing you?" They asked. "Nobody!" He replied. "Nobody is killing me!" As it seemed like he said, that nobody was killing him, they retreated to their caves. When Polyphemus later opened his cave, the men held onto the bellies of the lambs and escaped. But then Odysseus yelled, "if anyone asks, tell them it was me, Odysseus, that pricked your eye!" The cyclops then prayed to his father, Poseidon, to make it hard for Odysseus to get back home. They were tossed to the king of the wind, who gave Odysseus a bag of wind and it would blow them home in 10 days. But one of Odysseus's men mistakenly opened it, and it blew them off track to a nymph named Circe. She fed a potion to some of his 

men, turning them into pigs! Odysseus calls on Hermes and asks for help. Hermes says that he'll need a plant to counteract the potion and overpower Circe. Odysseus does them both, making Circe swear an oath not to harm them anymore. Before they take off, Circe warns them of the Sirens, half-bird half-woman. Their beautiful voices attract sailors to climb onto their rocks and then the Sirens kill them. So Odysseus puts wax in his men's ears so they won't hear. But, since he wants to hear, he doesn't put wax in his ears, just asks his men to tie him to the mast. They successfully pass the Sirens only to encounter Scylla and Charybdis. Scylla is a deadly 6-headed monster who loves tasty sailors, and Charybdis is a whirlpool, sucking ships into the vortex as they pass. Odysseus was the only survivor.

Thankfully Odysseus soon arrives home and reunites with his son, Telemachus. But he was informed that there were many suitors at his house, who came to court his wife Penelope. Penelope still believed that Odysseus would return, even after 20 years! 10 years of the Trojan War and the others lost at sea. Odysseus was furious at the suitors and sought revenge. Athena wanted to help Odysseus so she turned him into a beggar so he could go to his house without them knowing it was him. When he and Telemachus got home, all of the suitors were eating his food and drinking his wine. Penelope was sorry for Odysseus because he looked like a beggar and let him sleep at the house for the night. Penelope also told Odysseus in disguise that she is finally holding a contest for which suitor will take her hand in

marriage. But Odysseus told her that her husband will return even before the contest starts. Penelope, startled, hid herself up in her room. crying. When he was in bed, Athena came to him and said, "not only will you be victorious, you will even if any of their families seek revenge." The next day was the contest. The challenge was to shoot an arrow through 12 axe handles. But first, you have to string the bow. All of the suitors couldn't even string the bow, and when they all failed, Odysseus asked "Could I have a turn?" He strung the bow with ease and shot the arrows with perfect aim. After he completed he transformed back into his true self. He killed all the suitors and reunited with his wife. His wife couldn't believe he had returned. "I am going to move my bed to another room." She  

said out of nowhere. "What? No!" Odysseus said. "I made that bed and I made this room! It can't be moved!" Penelope cried for joy.  "It really is you! I knew if it was you wouldn't let me move it!" 

Turn the pages to learn about some more mythical creatures!

Pegasus

Pegasus is a mythological creature that is similar to a horse but with wings. The winged horse was said to have sprung out of Medusa's head (you'll learn who she is next page) when a Greek named Perseus chopped of her head. Later, someone named Bellerophon captured Pegasus to get him to help kill the Chimera (who you'll also learn about later on). After that, they became close friends and went everywhere together. But one day, Bellerophon tried to fly Pegasus up to Mount Olympus and fell off. After that, the sky god Zeus transformed Pegasus into the eponymous constellation, which is a constellation in the northern sky. Eponymous means "named after" so it is now called the "Pegasus constellation".