oung--huge beasts, rivalling in stature their
gigantic shepherd. Within the cavern was a sort of dairy, with great
piles of cheeses, and vessels brimming with whey.

"Quick now," whispered one of the men to Odysseus. "Let us take of the
cheeses, and drive off the best of the lambs and kids to the ship
before the Cyclops returns; for methinks he will give us but sorry
welcome if he finds us here." "Nay," answered Odysseus, "I will wait
for the master, that I may see him face to face. It may be that he
will bestow on me some gift, such as strangers receive from their
hosts." So they remained, and having kindled a fire they prepared
savoury meat, and ate of the cheeses which they found in the cave.
Then they waited, until the lengthening shadows showed that evening
was drawing near.

While they sat thus, conversing in low tones, and casting fearful
glances towards the cavern's mouth, all at once they heard a sound
like the trampling of many feet, accompanied by loud bleatings, which
were answered by the ewes and she-goats in the courtyard. Then a vast
shadow darkened the cavern's entrance, and in came Polyphemus, driving
his flock before him. At the sight of that fearful monster, huge as a
mountain, with one vast red eye glaring in the middle of his forehead,
Odysseus and his comrades fled in terror 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 Atreu