The Cyclops

Next, the ship came to an island of the Cyclops. We then went to a cave of the Cyclops’s and waited for him, hoping he would give us many gifts for our many troubles. Instead, when the Cyclops returned home, he refused to offer us anything and stated he was not afraid of Zeus. The Cyclops kept me and my little group of men prisoners. He ate and tortured my men. I came up with a plan to escape. I gave the Cyclops a dark drink of wine and and told him that it was a gift from me and my men. The Cyclops drank it and requested more. He got very drunk and we stabbed the Cyclops in the eye with a large branch that we had sharpened into a point. The Cyclops was angry and us not being fools, hid. I then thought of another plan to escape from the cave. I tied my men underneath the Cyclops’ sheep because I knew that the sheep were let out of the cave to graze in the field. We then escaped out of the cave and stole the sheep. When we got to the ship I was very happy with myself for the accomplishment of our escape. On the ship, as we began to leave, I yelled to the Cyclops. I yelled that we had escaped and that he was a fool. The Cyclops was angry, so he picked up large rocks and threw them at the ship. So I shouted at the Cyclops and told him my name. The Cyclops was shocked because he remembered that a wizard once had told him that he would lose his eye to a man named Odysseus. He yelled at me to come back. I refused for this was a trick, so the Cyclops prayed to his father, Poseidon, and asked that I lose all my men and never return home. The god heard him and granted his prayers. We set out once more on to the dark sea that has brought us many hardships...