The Adventures of Ulysses

making a whirlpool near her rock in which no ship could live.

hen she would look at him. And her eyes, like blue flame, burned these pictures out of his head. Then he could not rest until he was within the scent of her hair, the touch of her hand. And he would whimper impatiently like a dog dreaming, shake his head, and go to her.

Their noses grew wide and long, became snouts. Their hair hardened into bristles; their hands and feet became hooves, and they ran about on all fours, sobbing and snuffling, searching the floor for bones and crumbs.

And before Ulysses could rally his terrified men, the giants were upon them, trampling the ships like twigs, scooping the men up and popping them into their mouths like children eating berries.

A brutal bellowing yell shattered the air, and the men, paralyzed with fear, whimpering like puppies, saw a mob of giants, tall as trees, trooping toward them over the hills.

But it was no trunk. He had been climbing no tree. It was a giant’s leg he had been climbing, and the clothlike bark was cloth indeed, the stuff of its garment. And he realized then that the three sailors he had sent aloft had climbed to a mumbling death

Ulysses’ head swam with fear. Fear pried at his legs and arms, and he had to clutch the trunk with all his strength to keep from falling.

The sun chased the moon across the bowl of the sky, and the beach darkened and went light again, moved from bright day to blackest night in the time that it takes to eat a meal.

For night followed day upon this island like a hound hunting a deer.

Orange bars of fire stood in the sky, then a great flooding of golden light, which purpled again and went dark.