It tastes no less wonderful than the ambrosia which the gods who live on mount Olympus feast upon. Here, I have a whole skinful for you.”
The Cyclops tried a cup of the wine and he liked it. “For once you speak the truth, oh pirate,” he said. “This wine is indeed the finest I have ever tasted,” and he picked up the skin and guzzled some more wine down.
“Tell me little man, he said, "what is your name?”
"My name,” said Odysseus, “is Nobody. That is what I am called by my friends who love me, and my enemies who fear me.”
“Well I am neither your friend, nor do I fear you,” said the Cyclops, "but I shall call you Nobody all the same, if that is how you like to be called. For in truth, you will be nobody soon when I’ve eaten you. But as a reward for your gift of fine wine, I shall not eat you till I have eaten all the others.”
Before he went to bed he ate two more of Odysseus’ men, and finished the entire skin full of wine.. enough to put fifty men to sleep, and he fell into a deep slumber on the floor of the cave, snoring like a volcano.
Now that the Cyclops was sound asleep, Odysseus ordered those of his men whom the Cyclops had not yet eaten to pick up the great stick that they had sharpened and hardened in the fire. They carried it over their shoulders, which was as big as the trunk of a young tree, and they drove it into the one and only eye of the Cyclops. The giant let out a terrible scream and raged around the cave calling for help. The other one-eyed giants who lived nearby came running to see what was the cause of this commotion.
“What’s happened to you?” they called from outside the cave.
“Nobody has hurt me,” wailed the Cyclops. “Nobody came into my cave and did this to me.” The other giants were baffled by the Cyclops’ cries, since he insisted that “nobody” was harming him. Much confused, they all went back to bed.
In the morning, the Cyclops was careful to make sure that Odysseus and his men did not slip out of the cave. As each of his sheep went out, he felt it carefully to check that a man was not riding on its back, but he did not know that Odysseus had ordered his followers to tie the sheep together in threes, and that now they were clinging upside down between the sheep. The last animal to leave the cave was the old ram with curly horns. Odysseus was clinging to his underside. The Cyclops stroked the ram and said: “Cruel Nobody has blinded me, but I shall have my revenge. I shall find him tonight cowering in the corner of the cave, and I shall eat him for dinner, chewing very slowly.”
When Odysseus and his men were clear of the cave, they started to scramble down the cliffs to the beach, taking some of the lambs with them. They pulled their boat out from where it was hidden in the brush wood, and started to row swiftly out to their friends on the island. Up above on the cliffs they saw the Cyclops, standing as tall as an oak tree and bellowing with rage: “Oh woe is me! Nobody has blinded me in my one eye, and now Nobody is escaping across the seas!”
Odysseus stood up in the boat and called out to him: “Cruel Cyclops, you broke the laws of Zeus by eating my men and now you have your just desserts. Never again shall you see the light of day with that terrible eye of yours!”
His men begged him to sit down in the boat and keep quiet, but he carried on calling out insults to his enemy. In reply the giant picked up a huge rock and hurled it down into the sea. It sent up a great wave that rocked the boat so that it almost turned over. When it was steady, hot-headed Odysseus stood up in the boat again, and despite the pleas of his men he called out:
“Listen here you monstrous giant. If anyone asks you who did this to you, say it was swift-witted Odysseus, son of Laertes, sacker of cities. Yes, it was none other than Odysseus of rocky Ithaca who took the eye of the cruel, stupid Cyclops.”
The Cylops sent another boulder flying into the sea and this sent up another great wave that almost sank the boat again. Now the Cyclops went down on his knees and prayed to Poseidon: “Oh great ruler of the seas, mighty lord who makes the earth quake and tremble. Dear Poseidon, my father… hear my prayer. I did not think to fear this swift-witted Odysseus, son of Laertes, sacker of cities. He was such a puny and feeble little man. Please, oh great sea god, grant me revenge. Send a terrible storm to pick up his ships like toys and fling them back down again so that they smash into smithereens and all his brave men are drowned. Or if it is not permitted to end his life before its time, then make sure he only returns home, after many long years of great suffering, and that he finds his land in turmoil, and the echoing halls of his palace full of greedy robbers devouring his wealth. Oh sea lord, hear the prayer of Polyphemus the Cyclops – for I am your loving son.”
The sea god Poseidon heard the prayer of his son, the cruel Cyclops with one blind eye, and that is the reason why Odysseus spent ten long years buffeted by the cruel seas before he reached his home land.
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