In Greek mythology the lotus-eaters referred to a race of people living on an island near North Africa (possibly Djerba) dominated by lotus plants. The lotus fruits and flowers were the primary food of the island and were narcotic, causing the people to sleep in peaceful apathy.

In the Odyssey IX, Ulysses tells : 

"I was driven thence by foul winds for a space of 9 days upon the sea, but on the tenth day we reached the land of the Lotus-eaters, who live on a food that comes from a kind of flower. Here we landed to take in fresh water, and our crews got their mid-day meal on the shore near the ships…… They started at once, and went about among the Lotus-eaters, who did them no hurt, but gave them to eat of the lotus, which was so delicious that those who ate of it left off caring about home, and did not even want to go back and say what had happened to them, but were for staying and munching lotus with the Lotus-eaters without thinking further of their return.”

Sun Li-Tsuei has adapted the lotus-eaters of Homer’s Odyssey into an oriental metaphor as a transformation of a life which contains War、Sailing、Island、Feast、Transformation、Black Bird and A Life of a Person；【The Lotus Eater】 is mimodrame in its style, incorporating masks play, dancing, Chinese martial art, with musicians accompaning- 2 Nan guan players, 1 percussionist and 2 Amis tribe singers.