en 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 leaned 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.

Then the giant leapt up and tore away the stake and cried aloud, so that
all the Cyclopes who dwelt on the mountain side heard him and came about
his cave, asking him, "What aileth thee, Polyphemus, that thou makest
this uproar in the peaceful night, driving away sleep? Is any one
robbing thee of thy sheep or seeking to slay thee by craft or force?"

And the giant answered, "No Man slays me by craft."

"Nay, but," they said, "if no man does thee wrong, we cannot help thee.
The sickness which great Zeus may send, who can avoid? Pray to our
father, Poseidon, for help."

Then they departed, and Ulysses was glad at heart for the good success
of his device when he said that he was No Man.

But the Cyclops rolled away the great stone from the door of the cave
and sat in the midst, stretching out his hands to feel whether perchance
the men within the cave would seek to go out among the sheep.

Long did Ulysses think how he and his comrades should best escape. At
last he lighted upon a good device, and much he thanked Zeus for that
this once the giant had driven the rams with the other sheep into the
cave. For, these being great and strong, he fastened his comrades under
the bellies of the beasts, tying them with osier twigs, of which the
giant made his bed. One ram he took and fastened a man beneath it, and
two others he set, one on either side. So he did with the six, for but
six were left out of the twelve who had ventured with him from the ship.
And there was one mighty ram, far larger than all the others, and to
this Ulysses clung, grasping the fleece tight with both his hands. So
they waited for the morning. And when the morning came, the rams rushed
forth to the pasture; but the giant sat in the door and felt the back of
each as it went by, nor thought to try what might be underneath. Last of
all went the great ram. And the Cyclops knew him as he