EPISODE 99

IN WHICH HERMES BECOMES THE GREAT-GRANDFATHER OF ODYSSEUS

Previously: Autolycus, the son of Hermes, is very skilful at robbing his neighbours. Even if he is occasionally caught red-handed!

The years passed. Autolycus grew up. He got married and had children. Then he grew old. One of his daughters went away to live on that small island called Ithaca. She is the one who gave birth to Autolycus’ first grandson. As soon as Autolycus learnt the news, he hastened to the island. Deeply moved, Autolycus approached the baby. The wet-nurse who held it in her arms placed the child on his grandfather’s lap and said: “It is for you to find him a name now.” Autolycus hesitated and remained silent. As he was not very used to babies, he held him clumsily. And so the baby began to wail and wail! He was restless and he squirmed, and poor Autolycus, panicking and losing his wits, restored him hastily to the nurse’s arms. Then, addressing himself to the child, he said: “You shall be called Odysseus! It means ‘the one who gets angry’… and I hope that your anger will help you later in accomplishing great things.” The nurse began to laugh, rocking the baby in her arms at the same time to soothe him. Autolycus then kissed Odysseus and said one more thing to him: “When you are old enough, I shall offer you invaluable treasures. Come to my house and take them, as soon as you are ready to come for them on your own.” The nurse smiled. She promised to remind Odysseus about this.

Someone else had also arrived inconspicuously to greet the newborn and that was Hermes. He who never grew old, he who never died, felt nonetheless that he had changed over the years. And yet, for all that, he was greatly astonished to find himself already a great-grandfather. When the nurse had gone away he went close to the crib. Odysseus plunged his bright eyes into Hermes’ eyes. Hermes could sense that this child had inherited the cunning of his grandfather Autolycus. He knew that this cunning came from him, from Hermes, and he felt a great pride. But what would Odysseus do with it? He decided to follow his destiny closely.

Odysseus grew up. He was not very courageous, he did not always tell the truth, and sometimes it even happened that he did some thieving here and there, but he was by far the cleverest of men. One day he was old enough to go to his grandfather Autolycus on his own. His nurse reminded him then of the promise made by his grandfather on the day of his birth. Odysseus set off right away. Autolycus was delighted to receive him. He kept his word and offered him a priceless treasure. Then, in order to celebrate his coming, he organized a great hunt on Mount Parnassus.

There was rich game on that day and the hunt was very fruitful. Odysseus did not kill many animals, for he was not very skilled in archery, but he took pleasure in accompanying his grandfather. All of a sudden, an enormous wild boar sprang out of a bush and charged straight at him. The young man was frightened. He did not try to fight it; he only sought to avoid it. But he did not manage to get completely out of its way, and one of the animal’s tusks gashed his knee. The wound began to bleed profusely. His nurse, who never left his side, hastened to him. “What have you done to yourself now?” she cried. She was scolding him as though he were still a little boy. She treated his injury, bandaged it and the wound healed quickly. Odysseus was left from this adventure with a large scar on his knee. He always tried to hide it—to him, it was the mark of his lack of both skill and courage. But his nurse would laugh and say to him: “Odysseus, thanks to this scar, I shall always, always be able to recognize you. Even when you have become an old man, even if many years should go by without my seeing you, even if no one can recognize your face any more, even if I become blind, I shall always be able to recognize you thanks to this scar!”

Hermes, who had witnessed this misadventure, was concerned for his great-grandson. How would this clumsy boy manage to get through life?

 

To be continued…