but they bear no wine like this, which indeed
must be such as the gods drink in heaven."

Then Ulysses gave him the cup again and he drank. Thrice he gave it to
him and thrice he drank, not knowing what it was and how it would work
within his brain.

Then Ulysses spake to him. "Thou didst ask my name, Cyclops. Lo! my
name is No Man. And now that thou knowest my name, thou shouldst give
me thy gift."

And he said, "My gift shall be that I will eat thee last of all thy
company."

And as he spake he fell back in a drunken 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 o