to the darkest corner of the cave.  The Cyclops bore in one hand a mighty log for his evening fire.  Flinging it down with a crash that awakened all the echoes of the cavern, he closed the entrance with an immense mass of stone, which served as a door.  Then he sat down and began to milk the ewes and she-goats.  Half of the milk he curdled for cheese, and half he kept for drinking.  So when he had strained off the whey, and pressed the curds into wicker-baskets, he kindled a fire, and as the flame blazed up, illumining every corner of the cavern, he caught sight of the intruders, and with a voice which sounded like the roaring of a torrent cried out:  “Who are ye that have come to the cave of Polyphemus, and what would ye have of him?”

When he heard that appalling voice, and looked at that horrible face, fitfully lighted up by the blaze of the fire, Odysseus felt his heart stand still with terror.  Nevertheless he manned himself to answer, and spake boldly thus:  “We are Greeks, driven from our course in our voyage from Troy, and brought by the winds and waves to these shores.  And we are they who have served Agamemnon, son of Atreus, whose fame now fills the whole earth; so mighty was the city which he overthrew, with all the host within her.  And now we have come to kneel at thy feet and beseech thee of thy favour to bestow on us some gift such as strangers receive.  Have pity on us, great and mighty as thou art, and forget not that Zeus hath the stranger and the suppliant in his keeping.”

But there was no sign of pity or mercy in the Cyclops’ face as he made answer:  “Thou art full simple, my friend, or unversed in the ways of this land, if thou thinkest that I and my brethren care aught for Zeus or any other god.  Nay, we are mightier far than they, and if thou seekest aught of me thou must seek it of my favour, and not of my fears.  But tell me truly, where didst thou moor thy vessel on thy landing?  Lies she near at hand, or on a distant part of the coast?”

Odysseus easily divined the purpose of Polyphemus in putting this question, and answered accordingly:  “My ship was wrecked on a distant part of your coast, dashed all to pieces against the rocks; and I and these twelve escaped by swimming.”

Polyphemus made no reply, but sprang up and seized two of the men, grasping them easily together in one hand, and dashed their brains out against the rocky ground.  Then he cut them in pieces and made his supper on them.  Fearful it was to see him as he ate, crunching up flesh and bones and marrow all together, like a ravening lion.  When he had devoured the last morsel he took a deep draught of milk, and lay down on the cavern floor among his flocks to sleep.

As soon as the heavy breathing of Polyphemus showed that he was fast asleep, Odysseus crept from his corner, resolved to slay the cannibal giant on the spot.  He had already drawn his sword, when a sudden thought made him pause.  If he killed Polyphemus, how was he to escape from the cavern?  The entrance was blocked by that ponderous stone, which a hundred men could not have moved; and he and his men must in that case perish miserably of hunger and thirst.  Restrained by this reflection, he put up his sword, and went back to his companions to wait for day.