In this cave, all alone with his flocks and herds, dwelt a huge and hideous one-eyed giant.  Polyphemus was his name, and his father was Poseidon, god of the sea.

Taking twelve of his best men with him, Odysseus left the others to guard the ship and sallied forth to the giant’s cave.  With him he carried a goat-skin full of precious wine, dark red, and sweet and strong, and a large sack of corn.

Soon they came to the cave, but Polyphemus was not there.  He had taken off his flocks to graze in the green meadows, leaving behind him in the cave folds full of lambs and kids.  The walls of the cave were lined with cheeses, and there were great pans full of whey, and giant bowls full of milk.

“Let us first of all take the cheeses,” said the men of Odysseus to their King, “and carry them to the ships.  Then let us return and drive all the kids and lambs from their folds down to the shore, and sail with them in our swift ships homeward over the sea.”

But Odysseus would not listen to what they said.  He was too great hearted to steal into the cave like a thief and take away the giant’s goods without first seeing whether Polyphemus might not treat him as a friend, receiving from him the corn and wine he had brought, and giving him gifts in return.

So they kindled a fire, and dined on some of the cheeses, and sat waiting for the giant to return.

Towards evening he came, driving his flocks before him, and carrying on his back a huge load of firewood, which he cast down on the floor with such a thunderous noise that Odysseus and his men fled in fear and hid themselves in the darkest corners of the cave.  When he had driven his sheep inside, Polyphemus lifted from the ground a rock so huge that two-and-twenty four-wheeled wagons could not have borne it, and with it blocked the doorway.  Then, sitting down, he milked the ewes and bleating goats, and placed the lambs and kids each beside its own mother.

Half of the milk he curdled and placed in wicker baskets to make into cheeses, and the other half he left in great pails to drink when he should have supper.  When all this was done, he kindled a fire, and when the flames had lit up the dark-walled cave he spied Odysseus and his men.

“Strangers, who are ye?” he asked, in his great, rumbling voice.  “Whence sail ye over the watery ways?  Are ye merchants? or are ye sea-robbers who rove over the sea, risking your own lives and bringing evil to other men?”

The sound of the giant’s voice, and his hideous face filled the hearts of the men with terror, but Odysseus made answer:  “From Troy we come, seeking our home, but driven hither by winds and waves.  Men of Agamemnon, the renowned and most mightily victorious Greek general, are we, yet to thee we come and humbly beg for friendship.”

At this the giant, who had nothing but cruelty in his heart, mocked at Odysseus.

“Thou art a fool,” said he, “and I shall not spare either thee or thy company.  But tell me where thou didst leave thy good ship?  Was it near here, or at the far end of the island?”