Part 12 (1/2)

'I called ether and I said, ”It would be well for soo to that other island With o there The rest of you abide here I will find out what manner of ive us gifts that are due to strangers--gifts of provisions for our voyage”' E embarked and we came to the land There was a cave near the sea, and round the cave there were oats I took twelve uard the shi+p 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 off some of the lambs and kids and come away But this I would not do, for I would rather that he ned the stores would give us of his own free will the offerings that were due to strangers'

'While ere in the cave, he whose dwelling it was, returned to it He carried on his shoulder a great pile of wood for his fire Never in our lives did we see a creature so frightful as this Cyclops was He was a giant in size, and, what le eye was in his forehead He cast down on the ground the pile of wood that he carried,such a din that we fled in terror into the corners and recesses of the cave Next he drove his flocks into the cave and began to oats And when he had the flocks within, he took up a stone that not all our strengths could move and set it as a door to the mouth of the cave'

'The Cyclops kindled his fire, and when it blazed up he saw us in the corners and recesses He spoke to us We knew not what he said, but our hearts were shaken with terror at the sound of his deep voice'

'I spoke to hia of Priaed him to deal with us kindly, for the sake of Zeus who is ever in the coers and suppliants

But he answered , ”We Cyclopes pay no heed to Zeus, nor to any of thy Gods In our strength and our poe deehtier than they I will not spare thee, neither will I give thee aught for the sake of Zeus, but only as my own spirit bids me And first I would have thee tell me how you came to our laud”'

'I kneould be better not to let the Cyclops know that my shi+p and my companions were at the harbour of the island Therefore I spoke to hi him that my shi+p had been broken on the rocks, and that I and the men with me were the only ones who had escaped utter dooain that he would deal with us as justa word, laid hands upon two of s, dashed their brains out on the earth He cut them to pieces and ate them before our very eyes We wept and we prayed to Zeus as itnessed a deed so terrible'

'Next the Cyclops stretched hist his sheep and went to sleep beside the fire Then I debated whether I should takewhere his heart was, stab hi this I ht be able to kill him as he slept, but not even with reat stone that closed the mouth of the cave'

'Dawn came, and the Cyclops awakened, kindled his fire and milked his flocks Then he seized two others of my men and reat stone and drove his flocks out of the cave'

[Illustration]

'I had pondered on a way of escape, and I had thought of soht be done to baffle the Cyclops I had with ht that if I could ht be able for him But there were other preparations to be reat beam of olive hich the Cyclops had cut to reen I and th of the wood, and sharpened it to a point and took it to the fire and hardened it in the glow Then I hid the beam in a recess of the cave'

'The Cyclops ca up the cave drove in his flocks Then he closed the cave again with the stone and went and ain he seized two of my companions I went to the terrible creature with a bowl of wine in my hands He took it and drank it and cried out, ”Give ive thee gifts for bringing uilefully and said, ”Noman is my name Noman my father and my mother call me”'

'”Give ift that I shall give to thee is that I shall ave hiain, and when he had taken the third bowl he sank backwards with his face upturned, and sleep came upon him Then I, with four companions, took that beam of olive wood, now made into a hard and pointed stake, and thrust it into the ashes of the fire When the pointed end began to gloe drew it out of the flareat stake and, dashi+ng at the Cyclops, thrust it into his eye He raised a terrible cry thatand we dashed away into the recesses of the cave'

His cries brought other Cyclopes to thehim as Polyphemus, called out and asked him what ailed hiuile” They answered hi we can do for thee, Polyphemus What ails thee has been sent to thee by the Gods” Saying this, they went away fro towith pain, rolled away the stone and sat before thethat he would catch us as we dashed out I showed ht pass by him I laid hands on certain raether 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 hastened out to the pasture, and, as they passed, Polyphemus laid hands on the first and the third of each three that went by They passed out and Polypheuess that a ram that he did not touch carried out a est and fleeciest of the whole flock and I placedto the wool of his belly As this ra his hands upon him, said, ”Would that you, the best of ht tell me where Noman, who has blinded me, has hidden hione a little way from the cave I loosed myself froathered together many of Polyphemus' sheep and we drove them down to our shi+p The men we had left behind would have hen they heard what had happened to six of their coht and pull the shi+p away from that land

Then e had drawn a certain distance from the shore I could not forbear to shout my taunts into the cave of Polypheht that you had the co to eat But you have been worsted by me, and your evil deeds have been punished”'

'So I shouted, and Polypheer in his heart He took up rocks and cast them at the shi+p and they fell before the prow The men bent to the oars and pulled the shi+p away or it would have been broken by the rocks he cast And ere further away I shouted to him:

'”Cyclops, if any man should ask who it was set his mark upon you, say that he was Odysseus, the son of Laertes”'

[Illustration]

'Then I heard Polyphemus cry out, ”I call upon Poseidon, the God of the sea, whose son I arant that you, Odysseus, may never come to your home, or if the Gods have ordained your return, that you coht and in a stranger's shi+p, to find sorrow in your home”'

'So Polyphemus prayed, and, to my evil fortune, Poseidon heard his prayer But ent on in our shi+p rejoicing at our escape We came to the waste island where my other shi+ps were All the coh they had to mourn for their six cost the shi+ps the sheep we had taken from Polyphemus' flock and we sacrificed to the Gods At the dawn of the next day we raised the sails on each shi+p and we sailed away,'

V