"'. . . That is the den of Scylla, where she yaps abominably, a newborn whelp's cry, though she is huge and monstrous. God or man, no one could look on her in joy. Her legs--and there are twelve--are like great tentacles, unjointed, and upon her serpent necks are borne six heads like nightmares of ferocity, with triple serried rows of fangs and deep gullets of black death. Half her length, she sways her heads in air, outside her horrid cleft, hunting the sea around that promontory for dolphins, dogfish, or what bigger game thundering Amphitrite feeds in thousands. And no ship's company can claim to have passed her without loss and grief; she takes, from every ship, one man for every gullet."
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The second thing Circe told Odysseus about his journey was the Scylla. A story about a girl that was changed into a monster with 12 legs and 6 long necks that each took a man from ships that passed by. Odysseus was told to take this route instead of the Charybdis so that he would lose a few men instead of his men and ship.
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