"
Loud laughed the Cyclops at this. "You are a witless churl to bid me
heed the gods!" said he. "I spare or kill to please myself and none
other. But where is your cockle-shell that brought you hither?"
Then Odysseus answered craftily: "Alas, my ship is gone! Only I and my
men escaped alive from the sea."
But Polyphemus, who had been looking them over with his one eye, seized
two of the mariners and dashed them against the wall and made his
evening meal of them, while their comrades stood by helpless. This
done, he stretched himself through the cavern and slept all night long,
taking no more heed of them than if they had been flies. No sleep came
to the wretched seamen, for, even had they been able to slay him, they
were powerless to move away the boulder from the door. So all night
long Odysseus took thought how they might possibly escape.
At dawn the Cyclops woke, and his awakening was like a thunderstorm.
Again he kindled the fire, again he milked the goats and ewes, and
again he seized two of the king's comrades and served them up for his
terrible repast. Then the savage shepherd drove his flocks out of the
cave, only turning back to set the boulder in the doorway and pen up
Odysseus and his men in their dismal lodging.
But the wise king had pondered well. In the sheepfold he had seen a
mighty club of olive-wood, in size like the mast of a ship. As soon as
the Cyclops was gone, Odysseus bade his men cut off a length of this
club and sharpen it down to a point.
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