Then Ulysses questioned much in his heart whether he should slay the monster as he slept, for he doubted not that his good sword would pierce to the giant’s heart, mighty as he was.  But, being very wise, he remembered that, should he slay him, he and his comrades would yet perish miserably.  For who should move away the great rock that lay against the door of the cave?  So they waited till the morning.  And the monster woke, and milked his flocks, and afterward, seizing two men, devoured them for his meal.  Then he went to the pastures, but put the great rock on the mouth of the cave, just as a man puts down the lid upon his quiver.

All that day the wise Ulysses was thinking what he might best do to save himself and his companions, and the end of his thinking was this:  There was a mighty pole in the cave, green wood of an olive tree, big as a ship’s mast, which Polyphemus purposed to use, when the smoke should have dried it, as a walking staff.  Of this he cut off a fathom’s length, and his comrades sharpened it and hardened it in the fire, and then hid it away.  At evening the giant came back, and drove his sheep into the cave, nor left the rams outside, as he had been wont to do before, but shut them in.  And having duly done his shepherd’s work, he made his cruel feast as before.  Then Ulysses came forward with the wine skin in his hand, and said: 

“Drink, Cyclops, now that thou hast feasted.  Drink, and see what precious things we had in our ship.  But no one hereafter will come to thee with such like, if thou dealest with strangers as cruelly as thou hast dealt with us.”

Then the Cyclops drank, and was mightily pleased, and said, “Give me again to drink, and tell me thy name, stranger, and I will give thee a gift such as a host should give.  In good truth this is a rare liquor.  We, too, have vines, but they bear not wine like this, which indeed must be such as the gods drink in heaven.”

Then Ulysses gave him the cup again, and he drank.  Thrice he gave it to him, and thrice he drank, not knowing what it was, and how it would work within his brain.

Then Ulysses spake to him.  “Thou didst ask my name, Cyclops.  Lo! my name is No Man.  And now that thou knowest my name, thou shouldst give me thy gift.”

And he said, “My gift shall be that I will eat thee last of all thy company.”

And as he spake he fell back in a drunken sleep.  Then Ulysses bade his comrades be of good courage, for the time was come when they should be delivered.  And they thrust the stake of olive wood into the fire till it was ready, green as it was, to burst into flame, and they thrust it into the monster’s eye; for he had but one eye, and that in the midst of his forehead, with the eyebrow below it.  And Ulysses leant with all his force upon the stake, and thrust it in with might and main.  And the burning wood hissed in the eye, just as the red-hot iron hisses in the water when a man seeks to temper steel for a sword.