The Odyssey opens with the muse, or the prayer. He also gives foreshadowing, or hints to his audience about how the story will conclude. The Greeks believed that there were nine muses in this story, daughters of Zeus and the chief god..The Muses motivated people to create music, poetry, dance, and other types of arts. Homer conjures the Muse, interrogating her to tell the story of the Odyssey. Homer describes Odysseus's misfortunes, his boldness, and his struggle that he had to overcome to survive and bring his shipmates home. But his shipmates perished because or their own recklessness. Homer tells us that he will embark the story when all the other warriors had gotten hime, but only Odysseus suffers from homesickness and misses his wife. Odysseus is now held captive by Calypso, a creature who wants to keep as his own. Homer prefigures the probation that lie ahead for Odysseus's extended ten years journey back home that pities him.