Ulysses and the Cyclops

When the blue hills of the Lotus-land had faded away in the far distance, the ships of Ulysses went on merrily with a fresh breeze: and the men thought that they would soon come to rocky Ithaca, where their homes were. But Minerva was angry with Ulysses, and she asked Neptune, the lord of the sea, to send a great storm and scatter his ships. So the wind arose, and the waters of the sea began to heave and swell, and the sky was black with clouds and rain. Many days and many nights the storm raged fiercely; and when it was over, Ulysses could only see four or five of all the ships which had sailed with him from Troy. The ships were drenched with the waves which had broken over them, and the men were wet and cold and tired; and they were glad indeed when they saw an island far away. So they sat down on the benches, and took the great oars and rowed the ships towards the shore; and as they came near, they saw that the island was very beautiful with cliffs and rocks, and bays for ships to take shelter from the sea. They rowed into one of these quiet bays, where the water was always calm, and where there was no need to let down an anchor, or to tie the ship by ropes to the seashore, for the ship lay there quite still of itself. At the head of the bay a stream of fresh water trickled down from the cliffs, and ran close to the opening of a large cave, and near the cave some willow trees drooped their branches over the stream which ran down towards the sea. So they made haste to go on shore; and when they had landed, they saw fine large plains on which corn might grow, but no one had taken the trouble to sow the seed; and sloping hills for the grapes to ripen on the vines, but none were planted on them. Ulysses marvelled at the people who lived there, because they had no corn and no vines, and he could see no houses, but only sheep and goats feeding on the hill-sides. So he took his bows and arrows, and shot many of the goats, and he and his men lay down on the ground and had a merry meal. When they had finished they fell asleep, and did not wake up till the morning showed its rosy light in the eastern sky. Then Ulysses said that he would take some of his men and go to see who lived on the island, while the others remained in the ship close to the seashore. So they set out, and at last they came to the mouth of a great cave, where many sheep and goats were penned up in large folds. They could see no one in the cave or anywhere near it; and they waited a long while, but no one came. They lit a fire, and made themselves merry, as they ate the cheese and drank the milk which was stored up round the sides of the cave. Suddenly they heard a great noise of heavy feet stamping on the ground. They were so frightened that they ran inside the cave, and crouched down at the end of it. Nearer and nearer came the Cyclops, and his tread almost made the earth shake. In he came, with many dry logs of wood on his back; and in came all the sheep, which he milked every evening; but the rams and the goats stayed outside. But if Ulysses and his men were afraid when they saw Polyphemus the Cyclops come in, they were much more afraid when he took up a great stone, which was almost as big as the mouth of the cave, and set it up against it for a door. Then the men whispered to Ulysses and said, “Did we not beg and pray you not to come into the cave? But you would not listen to us; and now how are we to get out again? Why, two-and-twenty wagons would not be able to take away that huge stone from the mouth of the cave.” They were shut in now, and there was no use in thinking of their folly for coming in. So there they lay, crouching in the corner of the cave, and trembling with fear lest Polyphemus should see them. But the Cyclops went on milking the sheep, then he put the milk into the bowls round the sides of the cave, and lit the fire to cook his meal. As the flames shot up from the burning wood to the roof of the cave, it showed him the forms of Ulysses and his companions, where they lay huddled together in the corner. He cried out to them with a loud voice, “Who are you that dare to come into the cave of Polyphemus? Are you come to rob me of my sheep, or my cheese and milk that I keep here?” Then Ulysses said, “No; we are not come to do you harm: we are Greeks, who have been fighting at Troy to bring back Helen whom Paris stole away from Sparta, and we went there with the great king Agamemnon, whom everybody knows. We are on our way home to Ithaca; but Neptune sent a great storm, because Minerva was angry with me; and almost all our ships have been sunk in the sea, or broken to pieces on the rocks.” When he had finished speaking, Polyphemus frowned savagely and said, “I know nothing of Agamemnon, or Paris, or Helen;” and he seized two of the men, and broke their heads against the stones, and cooked them for his dinner. That day Polyphemus ate a huge meal, and drank several bowls full of milk; and after that he fell fast asleep. As he lay there snoring in his heavy sleep, Ulysses thought how easy it would be to plunge the sword into his breast, and kill him. He was just going to do it, when he thought of the great stone which Polyphemus had placed at the mouth of the cave; and he knew that if Polyphemus were killed no one else could move away the stone, and so they would all die shut up in that dismal place. So the hours of the night went wearily on. Neither Ulysses nor his friends could sleep, for they thought of the men whom Polyphemus had eaten, and how they would very likely be eaten up themselves. At last they could tell, from the dim light which came in between the top of the stone and the roof of the cave, that the morning was come. Soon Polyphemus awoke and milked all the sheep again. When he had done this, he went to the end of the cave, and took up two more men and killed and ate them. Then he took down the great stone from the mouth of the cave, and drove all the cattle out to graze on the soft grass on the hills; and Ulysses began to hope that they might be able to get away before Polyphemus came back. But the Cyclops was not so silly as to let them go, for, as soon as the cattle were gone out, he took up the huge stone again as easily as if it had been a pebble, and put it up against the mouth of the cave; and there were Ulysses and his friends shut up again as fast as ever. Then Ulysses began to think more and more how they were to get away, for if they stayed there they would soon be all killed, if Polyphemus went on eating four of them every day. At last, near the sheepfold, he saw a club which Polyphemus was going to use as a walking-stick. It was the whole trunk of an olive-tree, fresh and green, for he had only just cut it and left it to dry, that he might carry it about when it was fit for use. There it lay like the mast of a ship, which twenty men could hardly have lifted. Ulysses cut off a bit from the end, as much as a man could carry, and told the men to bring it to a very sharp point; and when they had done this he hardened it in the fire, and then hid it away till Polyphemus should come home. By and by, when the sun was sinking, they heard the terrible tramp of his feet and felt the earth shake beneath his tread. The great stone was taken away from the mouth of the cave, and in he came, driving the sheep and goats and the rams also before him, for this time he let nothing stay outside. He milked the sheep and the goats, as he had done the day before; and then killed two more men, and began to eat them for his supper. Then Ulysses went towards him with a bottle full of wine, and said, “Drink this wine, Polyphemus; it will make your supper taste much nicer; I have brought it to you because I want you to do me some kindness in return.” So the Cyclops stretched out his hand to take the wine, and he drank it off greedily and asked for more. “Give me more of this honey-sweet wine,” he said; “surely no grapes on this earth could ever give such wine as this: tell me your name, for I should like to do you a kindness for giving me such wine as this.” Then Ulysses said, “O Cyclops, I hope you will not forget to give me what you have promised: my name is Nobody.” And Polyphemus said, “Very well, I shall eat up Nobody last of all, when I have eaten up all his companions; and this is the kindness which I mean to do for him.” By this time he was so stupid with all he had been eating and drinking, that he could say no more, but fell on his back fast asleep; and his heavy snoring sounded through the whole of the cave. Then Ulysses cried to his friends, “Now is the time; come and help me, and we will punish this Cyclops for all that he has done.” So he took the piece of the olive-tree, which had been made sharp, and put it into the fire, till it almost burst into a flame, and he and two of his men went and stood over Polyphemus, and pushed the burning wood into his great eye as hard and as far down as they could. It was a terrible sight to see; but the Cyclops was so stupid and heavy in sleep that at first he could scarcely stir. Presently he gave a great groan, so that Ulysses and his people started back in a fright, and crouched down at the end of the cave: and then the Cyclops put out his hand, drew the burning wood from his eye, and threw it from him in a rage, and roared out for help to his friends, who lived on the hills round about. His roar was as deep and loud as the roar of twenty lions; and the other Cyclopes wondered when they heard him shouting out so loud, and they said, “What can be the matter with Polyphemus? We never heard him make such a noise before: let us go and see if he wants any help.” So they went to the cave, and stood outside the great stone which shut it in, listening to his terrible bellowings; and when they did not stop they shouted to him, and asked him what was the matter. “Why have you waked us up in the middle of the night with all this noise, when we were sleeping comfortably? Is any one taking away your sheep and goats, or killing you by craft and force?” And Polyphemus said, “Nobody, my friends, is killing me by craft and force.” When the others heard this they were angry, and said, “Well, then, if nobody is killing you, why do you roar so? If you are ill, you must bear it as best you can, and ask our father Neptune to make you well again;” and then they walked off to their beds, and left Polyphemus to make as much noise as he pleased. It was of no use that he went on shouting. No one came to him any more; and Ulysses laughed because he had tricked him so cunningly by calling himself Nobody. Polyphemus got up at last, moaning and groaning with the dreadful pain, and groped his way with his hands against the sides of the cave until he came to the door. Then he took down the great stone, and sat with his arms stretched out wide; and he said to himself, “Now I shall be sure to catch them, for no one can get out without passing me.” But Ulysses was too clever for him yet; for he went quietly, and fastened the great rams of Polyphemus together with long bands of willow. He tied them together by threes, and under the stomach of the middle one he tied one of his men, until he had fastened them all up safely. Then he went and caught hold of the largest ram of all, and clung on with his hands to the thick wool underneath his stomach; and so they waited in a great fright, lest after all the giant might catch and kill them. At last the pale light of the morning came into the eastern sky, and very soon the sheep and the goats began to go out of the cave. Polyphemus passed his hands over the backs of all the sheep as they went by, but he did not feel the willow bands, because their wool was long and thick, and he never thought that any one would be tied up underneath their stomachs. Last of all came the great ram to which Ulysses was clinging. When Polyphemus passed his hand over his back, he stroked him gently and said, “Is there something the matter with you too, as there is with your master? You were always the first to go out of the cave, and now to-day for the first time you are the last. I am sure that that horrible Nobody is at the bottom of all this. Ah, old ram, perhaps it is that you are sorry for your master, whose eye Nobody has put out. I wish you could speak like a man, and tell me where he is. If I could but catch him, I would take care that he never got away again, and then I should have some comfort for all the evil which Nobody has done me.” So he sent the ram on; and when he had gone a little way from the cave, Ulysses got up from under the ram, and went and untied all his friends, and very glad they were to be free once more, although they could not help grieving, when they thought of the men whom Polyphemus had killed. But Ulysses told them to make haste and drive as many of the sheep and goats as they could to the ships. So they drove them down to the shore and hurried them into the ships, and began to row away; and soon they would have been out of the reach of the Cyclops, if Ulysses could only have held his tongue. He was so angry himself, that he thought he would like to make Polyphemus still more angry; so he shouted to him, “Cruel Cyclops, did you think that you would not be punished for eating up my friends? Is this the way in which you receive strangers who have been tossed about by many storms upon the sea?” Then Polyphemus was more furious than ever, and he broke off a great rock from the mountain, and hurled it at Ulysses. On it came whizzing through the air, and fell just in front of his ship, and the water was dashed up all over it; and there was a great heaving of the sea, which almost carried them back to the land. They began to row again with all their might; but still, when they had got about twice as far as they were before, Ulysses could not help shouting out a few more words to Polyphemus. So he said, “If any one asks you how you lost your eye, remember, mighty Cyclops, to say that you were made blind by Ulysses, the plunderer of cities, the son of Laertes, who lives in Ithaca.” Terrible indeed was the fury of Polyphemus when he heard this, and he said: “Now I remember how the wise Telemus used to tell me that a man would come here named Ulysses, who would put my eye out. But I thought he would have been some great strong man, almost as big as myself; and this is a miserable little wretch, whom I could almost hold in my hand if I caught him. But stay, and I will show you how I thank you for your kindness, and I will ask my father Neptune to send you a pleasant storm to toss you about upon the dark sea.” Then Polyphemus took up a bigger rock than ever, and hurled it high into the air with all his might. But this time it fell just behind the ship of Ulysses: up rose the water and drenched Ulysses and all his people, and almost sank the ship under the sea. But it only sent them further out of the reach of the Cyclops; and though he hurled more rocks after them, they now fell far behind in the sea, and did them no harm. Even when they had rowed a long way, they could still see Polyphemus standing on the high cliff, and shaking his hands at them in rage and pain. But no one came to help him for all his shouting because he had told his friends that Nobody was doing him harm.