The Adventures of Odysseus and The Tales of Troy

men feast together with open hearts, when tables are plentifully spread, when wine-bearers pour out good wine into cups, and when a minstrel sings to them noble songs. This seems to m

many islands lie. Ithaka is a rugged isle, but a good nurse of hardy men, and I, for one, have found that there is no place fairer than a m

t is called Malea. Now if we had been able to double this cape we should soon have come to our own count

lotus that makes all men forgetful of their past and neglectful of their future. And those of my men who ate the lotus that the dwellers of that land offered them became forgetful of their country and of the way before them. They wanted to abide forever in the land of the lotus. They wept when they thought o

the harbour of their land, and on it there is a well of bright water that has poplars growin

m with our arrows. We killed so many wild goats there that we had nine for each ship. Afterwards we looked across to the land o

and with the company that is on it I shall go there. The rest of you abide here. I will find out what manner of men live th

. We went into the cave and found no man there. There were baskets filled with cheeses, and vessels of whey, and pails and bowls of milk. My men wanted me to take some of the cheeses and drive o

and, what made him terrible to behold, he had but one eye, and that single eye was in his forehead. He cast down on the ground the pile of wood that he carried, making such a din that we fled in terror into the corners and recess

e corners and recesses. He spoke to us. We knew not what he said, bu

company of strangers and suppliants. But he answered me saying, "We Cycl?pes pay no heed to Zeus, nor to any of thy gods. In our strength and our power we deem that we are mightier t

harbour of the island. Therefore I spoke to him guilefully, telling him that my ship had been br

word, laid hands upon two of my men, and swinging them by the legs, dashed their brains out on the earth. He cut t

arp sword in my hand, and feeling where his heart was, stab him there. But second thoughts held me back from doing this. I might be

. Then he seized two others of my men and made ready for his mid-day meal. A

companions might be able for him. But there were other preparations to be made first. On the floor of the cave there was a great beam of olive wood which the Cyclops had cut to make a club when the wood should be seas

ked his ewes and his goats. Again he seized two of my companions. I went to the terrible creature with a bowl of wine in my hands. He took it and

nd said, "Noman is my name. Noman

nd the gift that I shall give to thee is that I sha

e wood, now made into a hard and pointed stake, and thrust it into the ashes of the fire. When the pointed end began to glow we drew it out of the flame. Then I and my companions l

he shrieked out, "Noman is slaying me by guile." They answered him saying, "If no man is slaying thee, there is nothing we can do for thee, Polyphemu

. I laid hands on certain rams of the flock and I lashed three of them together with supple rods. Then on the middle ram I put a man of my company. Thus every three rams carried a man. As soon as the dawn had come the rams

all his flock, went by, Polyphemus, laying his hands upon him, said, "Would that you, the best of my flock, were endowed with speech, so that you might tell me where Noman

t I bade them take on board the sheep we had brought and pull the ship away from that land. Then when we had drawn a certain distance from the shore I could not forbear to shout my taunts int

cks and cast them at the ship and they fell before the prow. The men bent to the oars and pulled the shi

t was set his mark upon you, say that

. I call upon Poseidon to grant that you, Odysseus, may never come to your home, or if the gods have ordained your return, t

e my other ships were. All the company rejoiced to see us, although they had to mourn for their six companions slain by Polyphemus. We divided amongst the ship