The stories featured in Greek out are original adaptations of classic Greek myths.

This week's story features vengeful seas, neglecting the gods,

non-linear storytelling, lotus eaters, a hostile work environment, and invasion.

OK, we're talking the Odyssey again today, and I think it's time for a little recap,

because we skipped a whole chunk of story, and now we're going to go back and talk about it.

This is one of your storytelling devices.

Well, not just mine, and this is how Homer tells this story, too.

The, I bet you're wondering how I got here narrative is apparently thousands of years old.

So last episode, we found Odysseus broken and demoralized, trapped on the island of Ojigia

for seven years. He'd been missing for about 10 years while his family at home tried to run

the kingdom without him, and he was finally able to escape with some divine intervention.

He almost died on the high seas because Poseidon hates him, and then he managed to wash up on the

shore of a different island. Fortunately, the inhabitants of this island were good people.

Odysseus had landed on the island paradise of Skirian, home of a kind and peaceful people known

as the Fiatians. Odysseus had been rescued by Princess Nausica and her handmaidens, and she

immediately brought him to the palace, had him cleaned up, and presented him to her parents,

King Alcinius, and Queen Arete. After everything he'd been through, Odysseus was a little wary of

strangers, and he had told the princess that he was merely a wind-tossed sailor, and not Odysseus.

He was keeping his true identity under wraps for now. He didn't really know what King Alcinius

and Queen Arete would think when they discovered the shipwrecked King of a neighboring island in their

midst. Thank you, my King Queen. Odysseus said as he dropped to his knees,

I thank the gods for delivering me to your shores, and I am grateful for your hospitality.

...