Again he seized two of my companions. I
went to the terrible creature with a bowl of wine in my hands. He took
it and drank it and cried out, "Give me another bowl of this, and tell
me thy name that I may give thee gifts for bringing me this
honey-tasting drink."'

'Again I spoke to him guilefully and said, "Noman is my name. Noman my
father and my mother call me."'

'"Give me more of the drink, Noman," he shouted. "And the gift that I
shall give to thee is that I shall make thee the last of thy fellows to
be eaten."'

'I gave him wine again, and when he had taken the third bowl he sank
backwards with his face upturned, and sleep came upon him. Then I, with
four companions, took that beam of olive wood, now made into a hard and
pointed stake, and thrust it into the ashes of the fire. When the
pointed end began to glow we drew it out of the flame. Then I and my
companions laid hold on the great stake and, dashing at the Cyclops,
thrust it into his eye. He raised a terrible cry that made the rocks
ring and we dashed away into the recesses of the cave.'

His cries brought other Cyclopes to the mouth of the cave, and they,
naming him as Polyphemus, called out and asked him what ailed him to
cry. "Noman," he shrieked out, "Noman is slaying me by guile." They
answered him saying, "If no man is slaying thee, there is nothing we can
do for thee, Polyphemus. What ails thee has been sent to thee by the
gods." Saying this, they went away from the mouth of the cave without
attempting to move away the stone.'

'Polyphemus then, groaning with pain, rolled away the stone and sat
before the mouth of the cave with his hands outstretched, thinking that
he would catch us as we dashed out. I showed my companions how we might
pass by him. I laid hands on certain rams of the flock and I lashed
three of them together with supple rods. Then on the middle ram I put a
man of my company. Thus every three rams carried a man. As soon as the
dawn had come the rams hastened out to the pasture, and, as they passed,
Polyphemus laid hands on the first and the third of each three that went
by. They passed out and Polyphemus did not guess that a ram that he did
not touch carried out a man.'

'For myself, I took a ram that was the strongest and fleeciest of the
whole flock and I placed myself under him, clinging to the wool of his
belly. As this ram, the best of all his flock, went by, Polyphemus,
laying his hands upon him, said, "Would that you, t