"To this he gave me but a
pitiless answer, ‘Stranger,’ said he, ‘you are a fool,
or else you know nothing of this country. Talk to me, indeed, about
fearing the gods or shunning their anger? We Cyclopes do not care
about Zeus or any of your blessed gods, for we are ever so much
stronger than they. I shall not spare either yourself or your
companions out of any regard for Zeus, unless I am in the humor for
doing so. And now tell me where you made your ship fast when you came
on shore. Was it round the point, or is she lying straight off the
land?’
"He said this to draw me out, but
I was too cunning to be caught in that way, so I answered with a lie;
‘Poseidon,’ said I, ‘sent my ship on to the rocks at
the far end of your country, and wrecked it. We were driven on to
them from the open sea, but I and those who are with me escaped the
jaws of death.’
"The cruel wretch granted me not
one word of answer, but with a sudden clutch he gripped up two of my
men at once and dashed them down upon the ground as though they had
been puppies. Their brains were shed upon the ground, and the earth
was wet with their blood. Then he tore them limb from limb and supped
upon them. He gobbled them up like a lion in the wilderness, flesh,
bones, marrow, and entrails, without leaving anything uneaten. As for
us, we wept and lifted up our hands to heaven on seeing such a horrid
sight, for we did not know what else to do; but when the Cyclops had
filled his huge paunch, and had washed down his meal of human flesh
with a drink of neat milk, he stretched himself full length upon the
ground among his sheep, and went to sleep. I was at first inclined to
seize my sword, draw it, and drive it into his vitals, but I
reflected that if I did we should all certainly be lost, for we
should never be able to shift the stone which the monster had put in
front of the door. So we stayed sobbing and sighing where we were
till morning came.
"When the child of morning,
rosy-fingered Dawn, appeared, he again lit his fire, milked his goats
and ewes, all quite rightly, and then let each have her own young
one; as soon as he had got through with all his work, he clutched up
two more of my men, and began eating them for his morning's
meal. Presently, with the utmost ease, he rolled the stone away from
the door and drove out his sheep, but he at once put it back again -
as easily as though he were merely clapping the lid on to a quiver
full of arrows. As soon as he had done so he shouted, and cried
‘Shoo, shoo,’ after his sheep to drive them on to the
mountain; so I was left to scheme some way of taking my revenge and
covering myself with glory.
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