"Ship have we none, for that which was ours King Poseidon brake,
driving it on a jutting rock on this coast, and we whom thou seest are
all that are escaped from the waves."

Polyphemus answered nothing, but without more ado caught up two of the
men, as a man might catch up the whelps of a dog, and dashed them on
the ground, and tore them limb from limb and devoured them, with huge
draughts of milk between, leaving not a morsel, not even the very
bones. But the others, when they saw the dreadful deed, could only
weep and pray to Zeus for help. And when the giant had ended his foul
meal, he lay down among his sheep and slept.

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,