They've arrived on the island of Aeolia, home of Aeolus, the wind god. Aeolus was nice to Odysseus and encouraged him to tell him stories about Troy and his journey home. Odysseus told so many stories, and Aeolus and his children had such much fun listening to them, that Odysseus stayed on that island for a month! When he finally decided to leave, Aeolus warned him that if there were winds from any other direction, they would blow him back to Troy. Odysseus left Aeolia but soon found himself in the middle of another storm. This time it was the sea god Poseidon who wanted to throw him into Tartarus. Only Athena helped him out this time. She made him a helmet with the god Aegis attached to it. With this helmet he was able to beat back both Poseidon and the sea and make it back to Ithaca in the end. In some versions of the story, Odysseus does not reach safety until his eleventh year on the island. Even so, this is one heroic journey for sure! Here's how one version of the story ends: "Odysseus returned home after eleven years. He was very old and gray but still strong enough to eat an ox and drink ten barrels of wine in one day without getting drunk. His wife, Penelope, had many suitors trying to win her hand in marriage but she always refused their advances because of her love for her husband.