The Twists As The Story Turns

Turbulent Sea 🌊

A beautiful naiad was born to Poseidon. The whole kingdom rang with the news of her ethereal charms. She was christened, Charybdis.

Her father was her object of love and admiration. But things weren't the same in the life of Charybdis.

Poseidon went to war with the great god Zeus and stirred up great storms. Charybdis was tempted to help her father with her extraordinary gifts.

She rode the tides, leading the water onto beaches. In this way the sea swallowed up villages and fields and forests and towns, claiming these for the god of the sea. Everything was a chaos and the fear of the majestic Charybdis was in everyone's mind.

After a while Charybdis had won so much land for her father's kingdom, Zeus became enraged with her. He vowed to stop her forever. He cursed her to be transformed into a monster -- all wide, gaping mouth, with sharp teeth. Her arms and legs became flippers and there was no trace left of that damsel.

Abandoned and shunned, Charybdis was forced to live in a cave beneath a lone fig tree on a tiny island in the Strait of Messina.

The times each day, Charybdis sucked in gallons of saltwater. She even sometimes swallowed passing ships, without a trace of mercy.

When Charybdis swallowed, she created a water funnel. Those who looked down could see through the swirling eddy the rock beneath. Sailors heard her hideous roar as she spewed out the water, creating relentless, dangerous whirlpools. They knew it as the sound of the death knell. Hundreds of sailors drowned in those ferocious waters stirred up by Charybdis' rage.

On the other side of this narrow channel between Italy and Sicily lived another monster. Like Charybdis, Scylla had not always been a terror. She was born a nymph -- the daughter of Phorcys.

Glaucus, a fisherman who had turned into a sea god, fell madly in love with her. Scylla did not return his love, and this broke his heart. In despair, and longing, to convince her to love him, Glaucus went to see the sorceress Circe. There he begged for a love potion that would melt Scylla's heart.

Alas, as Glaucus told Circe his tale of love and longing, the sorceress fell in love with him. She tried to convince him to forget Scylla and to fall in love with her instead, but he paid her no attention; his heart belonged to the nymph. This enraged Circe. To punish her rival, she prepared a vial of poison, and this she poured into the pool where Scylla bathed.

As soon as Scylla walked into her bath, she was transformed into a horrifying monster with six heads, each with a triple row of teeth sharper than knives. Now she was no longer beautiful but a monstrous creature with twelve feet and a body composed of hideous barking dogs. She was so gross to look at that everyone despised her.

Unable to move, she lived in misery on a cliff beneath the sea and in her anger, lashed out at all ships that passed by. Whenever a ship sailed too close, each of Scylla's heads seized a member of the crew and destroyed them in her grotesque mouths.

From that time on Charybdis lived on one side of the blue channel, and Scylla on the other. The two monsters became the peril of all sailors. Everyone had tales to tell of the terrors they caused. The two sides of the strait were so close to each other that those who tried to avoid Scylla would pass too close to Charybdis, thus risking their lives in whirlpools. But those who attempted to slip past Charybdis moved too close to Scylla, and many died in the grip of her gnashing teeth.

They were both the fury of a cursed existence.

Among those who tangled with the monsters was the great Odysseus -- a courageous and able seaman -- and fortunate too, for the gods watched over him.

Circe had warned Odysseus and his crew of the monsters. Thus alerted, Odysseus believed he could pass in safety, and as he and his crew approached the channel, they kept strict watch, searching for the roaring waters as Charybdis swallowed; her roar warning him to keep his distance.

Alas, no matter how hard they looked, they could not make out Scylla, so hidden was she beneath the sea. And as they passed safely by Charybdis, Scylla darted forth with her terrible heads. In each mouth she caught a sailor, and those six men shrieked in horror as she carried them to her den beneath the sea.

Ulysses had never seen a more terrible sight. He stood helplessly on deck, unable to save his men. His heart broke as he listened to the echoing cries long after Scylla had captured them. Of course, this would not be the end of his troubles -- he had yet to vie with the island of the sun, with famine and curses, foul winds and storms. But he was brave and he was determined to survive, in spite of everything.

Lightning soon destroyed his mast, and his vessel was torn to pieces. Stranded on a raft, once more Odysseus was swept into the strait to face Charybdis and Scylla.

This time he passed too close to Charybdis, and with one great heave, she swallowed his raft.

The clever sailor, however, leapt to safety by clinging to the fig tree overhanging her lair.

When Charybdis finally spewed out the broken raft, Odysseus dropped to safety on one of the timbers and paddled by hand out of the strait. That is how he, unlike so many others, survived.

To this day the sea monsters remain a terror to all passing sailors, the sources of many tales, many myths and folklores. They're feared and revered.

They are quieter now, but true men and women of the sea understand the danger that lurks below the water, out of sight yet never really out of mind.

1000 words completed.

A/N This is the real story of Odysseus and the monsters Scylla and Charybdis. Hope you like it.

Dedicated to mythandlegend

Thanks Pipigrin MaryFahey lindajonesAuthor KashishBelikov
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