Kikons and lotophages

Having sailed from under Troy with a fair wind, - so he began to tell Odyssey, - we calmly sailed across the boundless sea and finally reached the land kikonov. We captured their city of Ismar, exterminated all the inhabitants, captured the women, and destroyed the city. For a long time I urged my companions to sail to their homeland as soon as possible, but they did not obey me. Meanwhile, the escaped residents of the city of Ismara gathered the surrounding Kikons to help and attacked us. There were as many of them as there are leaves in the forest, as there are spring flowers in the meadows. For a long time we fought with the kikons at our ships, but the kikons overcame us, and we had to flee. I lost six brave rowers from each ship. Three times before we sailed out to the open sea, we called those comrades who were not with us, and only after that we went out to the open sea, grieving for the dead companions and rejoicing that we had saved ourselves.

As soon as we went to the open sea, Zeus -the thunderer of the god of the north wind sent us Borea. He raised a great storm on the sea. Dark clouds were coming up to the sky. Darkness enveloped everything. Three times the stormy wind tore the sails from the masts. Finally, with great difficulty, we rowed to a deserted island. For two days and two nights we waited on it until the storm subsided. On the third day we put up the masts, unfurled the sails and set off on our further journey. But we did not arrive at our beloved homeland. During the storm we lost our way. Finally, on the tenth day of the voyage, we landed on the island. It was an island lotophages. We lit a bonfire on the shore and began to cook dinner for ourselves. I sent three of my companions to find out what kind of people the island is inhabited by. The lotophagi greeted them warmly and gave them a sweet lotus. As soon as my companions ate it, they forgot their homeland and did not want to return to their native Ithaca; they wanted to stay on the island of lotophages forever. But we forcibly brought them to the ship and tied them there so that they would not escape from us. I immediately ordered all my companions to take the oars and leave the island of the lotophages as soon as possible. I was afraid that others, having eaten the sweet lotus, would forget their homeland.