On an uninhabited island

They traveled for days, not knowing where they were. One dark night, the sea brought them to a quiet shore. They rested their ships and slept. They awoke on a green, uninhabited island, where only wild goats grazed in the meadows. They hunted a few, roasted them and ate them.

They set sail again and sailed for days. But in vain they looked everywhere for signs of their arrival at Ithaca. Nowhere the familiar seas, nowhere the familiar land.

In the land of the Cyclops

And one dawn they found themselves near an island in the land of the Cyclops. The island is now called Sicily and is in the south of Italy. So they rested in a harbour and said they would go out to find food and water. So Odysseus went out with twelve companions and went into the interior of the island, but they saw no people. They took with them only a bottle of sweet wine like nectar.

Inside a cave

So as they went on, they find a cave. They go in and what do they see! There were only lambs and kids in their pens, while all around were a multitude of baskets of cheese, cardoons full of milk, many hides and hair. They told the companions to take cheese and lambs and go. But he, by no means, wanted to leave before he saw the people who lived in these parts.

Who were the Cyclops

So, on this island, there were no ordinary people living there. They were gigantic, beasts properly speaking, with a big eye in their foreheads, and fierce. Every man had his cave and his cattle, which he herded all day and came back at night, milked them, made cheese, ate and slept. The Cyclopes counted for no one, for they were the children of the God Poseidon and the sea fairy Amphitrite. And any stranger who fell into their lands met a terrible death: they killed and ate him.

Here comes the Cyclops

So as evening fell, they heard darting and bells from afar and soon the cave was filled with cattle. At last, at the entrance, there appeared a giant, one-eyed and fierce, who dragged a huge rock as if it were a stone, and closed the cave. Then he threw a heap of wood which he held with his other hand, and the cave shook.

The Polyphemus

This was Cyclops Polyphemus, the strongest and fiercest of all. Then he lit a fire, milked the ewes, put half the milk in cheese, and let the other half drink it. When he had finished and was ready to eat, then he saw his companions of Ulysses, who were huddled in a corner and frightened. He looked at them in puzzlement at first, and then asked them in his thunderous voice:

The first dead

- Who are you and what do you want here?

- We are Greeks, Odysseus replied. We are returning from Troy and we beg you, in the name of Zeus, to host us and help us return to our homeland.

The giant laughed loudly and said to them:

- I fear no one, neither God nor man, nor will I help you. He already stretched out his arm, grabbed two of Odysseus' companions, knocked them down, killed them, and began to eat them.

The problem

The others were martyred, but what could they do? When the Cyclops had eaten, he took a large heart of milk, and drank it to fill him. Then he lay down on his back and slept.

Then Odysseus thought of killing him with his own sword. But how were they to get out of the cave, which was blocked by the huge rock? So they too bowed their heads in despair, and soon fell asleep, weary as they were.

Odysseus thinks

The next morning, the giant woke up, milked his ewes again and ate two more of Odysseus' companions. Then he took his sheep outside, closed the door again with the godlike rock and left. All day long Odysseus and his companions thought about how to escape.

Odysseus makes a plan

So, the resourceful Odysseus was thinking what to do to save them. As he turned into the cave, he saw in a corner a long, pale wood of a wild olive tree. He calls to his companions to chop it well aside to make it sharp, and he roasts it in the fire to make it hard. Then he hides it in the dung.

In the evening, Polyphemus returned again. Having done his business, he again took two of Ulysses' companions and ate them. Then Odysseus approached with a cup of wine and said to him:

The implementation of the plan

- Here, Cyclop, drink this sweet wine and enjoy yourself and let us go back home. The giant takes the wine, drinks it and clicks his tongue in satisfaction.

- Give me more, he says. This is not wine, it's nectar of the gods...

He brings him more and more, and the giant begins to get dizzy. In a moment he asks him:

- What's your name, stranger, with the sweet wine?

- Nobody, my name is, Odysseus replies, and that's what everyone calls me.

- Well, well, you, Nobody, I'll eat you last, says the giant.

Odysseus blinds the Cyclops

And he drank and drank, until the bottle was empty and he fell back drunk and fell asleep. Then they all seized the sharp wood, and put it on the fire until it was well roasted, and then they thrust it with force into the Cyclops' eye and spun it round. The beast groaned heavily and flew up, mad with pain. He cried out loud, so loud that the cave shook and his cries could be heard all over the island. The other Cyclops heard him, too, got up from their sleep and began to run towards Polyphemus' cave.

So the others came out of the cave and cried out, asking him what was wrong. And he was telling them:

- Nobody blinded me, Nobody.

The implementation of the plan

- If nobody minds you, why did you yell and wake us up? You must be sick to do that. And the others went away laughing, they answered him.

Blind Polyphemus, and mad with pain, began to search around the cave, staggering. But now they were escaping him and mocking him. In a little while, he was quiet. He thought that in the morning, they would want to go out with the sheep, too, and then he would catch them.

However, Odysseus was also thinking about how they were going to get out and escape. So when it was near dawn, he took the biggest rams and tied them three by three with rushes, and in the messiah underneath he tied one of his companions.

The escape from the cave

So at dawn the Cyclops opened the door of the cave and sat down there on a large stone. So as the sheep came out, he searched his back, but found none. Odysseus came out last, having caught hold of the hair of the belly of the largest ram."

"So as he was slowly coming out, the Cyclops met him and said to him:

 - Why, my good ram, have you come out last today and are you going so slowly? Are you also sorry for the harm that Nobody did to me? "Where will he go, he will not get me off?"

The flight from the island of Cyclops.

In the meantime Odysseus came out, untied his companions and with the rams in front, they reached the ships, got in and opened the sails to leave. When they were far enough away, then Odysseus cried aloud:- "Cyclop, if they ask you who blinded you, tell them that Odysseus, the king of Ithaca, who took Troy. Then the Cyclop maniacal, and tearing out a godlike rock, threw it towards where the voice was heard. The rock fell so close to the ship that it nearly struck it. But Odysseus' companions, pulling hard at the oars, were 

The request of Polyphemus

Then Cyclops begged his father Poseidon to drown Odysseus' ships and companions, and if he ever reached his homeland, he should arrive alone and in a foreign ship.