name
Odysseus. He was the special favourite of Pallas Athene, but she could
not save him from many dangers. He had twelve ships, with which he set
out to return to Ithaca; but as he was doubling Cape Malea, one of the
rugged points of the Peloponnesus, a great storm caught him, and drove
him nine days westward, till he came to an island, where he sent three
men to explore, but they did not return, and he found that this was the
land of the lotus-eaters, a people who always lie about in a dreamy state
of repose, and that to taste the food drives away all remembrance of home
and friends. He was obliged to drag his men away by force, and bind them
to the benches. The lotus bean, or jujube, is really eaten in Africa,
but not with these effects.

Next they came to another island, where there was a bay with rocks
around, with goats leaping on them. Here Ulysses left eleven ships, and
sailed with one to explore the little islet opposite. Landing with his
men, he entered an enormous cavern, well stored with bowls of milk and
cream, and with rows of cheeses standing on the ledges of rock. While
the Greeks were regaling themselves, a noise was heard, and great flocks
of sheep and goats came bleating in. Behind them came a giant, with a
fir tree for a staff, and only one eye in the middle of his forehead. He
was Polyphemus, one of the Cyclops, sons of Neptune, and workmen of
Vulcan. He asked fiercely who the strangers were, and Ulysses told him
that they were shipwrecked sailors, imploring him for hospitality in the
name of the gods. Polyphemus laughed at this, saying he was stronger
than the gods, and did not care for them; and, dashing two unhappy Greeks
on the floor, he ate them up at once; after which he closed up the front
of the cave with a monstrous rock, penned up the kids and lambs, and
began to milk his goats, drank up a great quantity of milk, and fell
asleep on the ground. Ulysses thought of killing him at once, but
recollected that the stone at the mouth of the cave would keep him
captive if the giant's strength did not move it, and abstained. In the
morning the Cyclops let out his flocks, and then shut the Greeks in with
the stone; but he left his staff behind, and Ulysses hardened the top of
this in the fire. A skin of wine had been brought from the ships, and
when Polyphemus came home in the evening, and had devoured two more
Greeks, Ulysses offered it to him. It was the first wine he had tasted,
and