Fantasy Short Stories

Calypso Uncovered

*Being added to _ShortStory_ "Myth and Legend Anthology"

Homer, that frightfully boring and unimaginative Greek poet whom everyone has been raving on and on about for a thousand years, was nothing more than a shameless liar. His account of my life, in that disgraceful tabloid he called the Odyssey, was a complete misrepresentation of me! That man portrayed me to all of the world as a lonely, bitter, self-serving nymph who captured and detained a married man, against his will, just to satisfy my own selfish longings! Hogwash! There isn't a bit of truth to any of it! 

Where that schemer got these scandalous ideas, I will never know. It isn't as if he'd ever spoken a word to the King of Ithaca, Odysseus, or traveled to my island, Ogygia, to speak with me. Yet, the trials and the tribulations his undocumented and unverified piece of dribble has caused me is great. I find I am at my wits end about it all. I must and I will tell you the truth now or I risk my twitter account imploding!

Allow me reader to, first, set the record straight for you by addressing the false accusations made against me in the Odyssey; and second, to give you a first-hand account of my love story in which I assure you Odysseus played no part!

Firstly, I was never lonely, not in the sense it was portrayed at least in that god-awful rag called the Odyssey. Ogygia was my island. She was made for me and me alone. I was her husbandman, her caretaker, her guardian and keeper. From morning till night and from night until morning I watched over her and helped her flourish from her infancy. She was my greatest love, my life, my joy and I felt she was the best part of me. I did not sit on the shores of my island pining for a lover. I had no time for one! I did not cry myself to sleep dreaming of the faces of semi-mortal children to fill my island with. I had a child already. Her name was Ogygia - my island.

Secondly, I was rarely alone on the island contrary to Homer's claims. The idea that I snatched up the first mortal man to come along and seduced him for 7 years to keep me company is so ridiculous as to be laughable. The seas are a dangerous place when gods and monsters begin to play. Why, my island was a safe haven in tempest driven seas for fisherman, sailors and immortals alike. Anyone seeking to escape the wars waged on the seas in the name of one god or another were welcome on Ogygia. My island, though not teeming with men all the time, had no shortage of strong, handsome and eligible young men streaming by its shores who were all quite willing to be my lovers. Odysseus was neither the first man I rescued from the sharp shoals nor was he the last.

Lastly, Odysseus did not stay on Ogygia for seven years because I seduced him. Poppycock! He remained in my care those seven years because he was terrified Zeus would drown him if he set out on the sea again. It was Zeus that shipwrecked him in the first place. It was Zeus who left him in the sea to die! Furthermore, when Hermes came with his message from Zeus seven years later, the message did not read,

"Calypso, Stop playing around and let the poor boy go home to his wife! ~ Zeus"

No, the message read,

"Calypso, Athena is on my case again. Tell Odysseus he may leave the island. ~ Zeus".

Odysseus was never my captor or my unwilling lover. In fact, the love of my life was not Odysseus at all but rather an immortal who is hitherto unknown to you I imagine.