The Cyclops
"Hey children, are you ready for a
great story? Today I am going to
tell you about how I, Odysseus, defeated the mighty Cyclops Polyphemus.
It was many years ago. My men and I
had just left Troy after destroying the city. We sailed into
the port of Ismarus looking for supplies, which we took, and once the
villagers
angrily drove us out, we set sail for home, the Greek island of Ithaca.
We almost made it
too, but a mighty storm came and drove us off course.
After the storm, we ran across an
island teeming with life. We camped
there for several days, gathering supplies, when I saw an island in the
distance, which looked to be inhabited by people. When morning came, I
took a few men to that island to look around.
When we got to the island, we
found a cave full of cheese and
milk. My men wanted to gather supplies and leave, but I urged them to
stay in the cave. I wanted to see who lived there.
After… some… ti…” (Snoring)
“Grandpa? Grandpa?! GRANDPA?!?!”
“Yes? Who is it?”
“Grandpa, you fell asleep.”
“Did I? Oh, I’m sorry. Where was
I?... Ah, yes. We were in the cave,
when all of a sudden, a giant, one-eyed, monstrous Cyclops entered.
This Cyclops’ name was
Polyphemus, and he was the son of the great god Poseidon. Polyphemus
herded his sheep and goats into the cave, and once they had all entered
he pulled a huge boulder in front of the mouth of the cave, a boulder
so large that even twenty of Greece’s strongest could not move it. We
were
trapped.
My men and I hid, as Polyphemus
milked his goats, and we would have
remained concealed if not for the fire that lit the cave. Polyphemus
was alerted to our presence as the light filled the cave. Upon
our discovery, the monster asked who we were. I replied that we were
travelers who had been shipwrecked on the island and we were looking
for hospitality.
The colossal Polyphemus proceeded to show us hospitality by
grabbing, and
eating, two of my men, bones and all.
This, of course, made me angry. The
urge to drive my sword into his
heart was great, but I was powerless because I knew that if I killed
the beast now, then there would be no one to move the boulder from the
entrance. We would be trapped in the cave, and would surely die within
a week. So, powerless and unable to avenge our brethren, we retreated
into a
dark part of the cave and waited for daybreak.
When the dawn came, Polyphemus
opened the entrance to the cave and led
his flock out to graze. After they had all vacated the cave, the beast
pushed the
boulder back in front of the cave, trapping us for another night of
fear and uncertainty.
Thinking on my feet, I found a
large tree trunk, that had been brought into the cave by Polyphemus,
and cut
it into a
six-foot pole, which I sharpened at one end and burned to make it hard.
After the spear was completed, my men and I hid it under some of the
sheep’s
dung and waited for the Cyclops to return.
That evening when Poly had
returned, he led his flock in, closed the
entrance once again, and ate two more of my men. Fearing for the lives
of my remaining crew, and not my own, I confronted the Cyclops and
offered him some wine to wash down my men.
Now, this wine was very strong. One
drop would be enough to get you
small children to dance around and sing with Dionysus. Any man drinking
this wine would have to
water it down so much that it would be twenty parts water to one part
wine. I may have failed in mentioning this to our large friend
Polyphemus who drank a little too much, and fortunately for me and my
men, he did not water down the wine.
After his first cup, and remember
he is a Cyclops, which means he has
some pretty big cups, he asked me my name. To which I replied,
‘Norman.' Norman was my barber back home in Ithaca, which was the first
name that came to mind as I stroked my beard and realized that I was in
desperate need of a shave.
‘No man?’ the Cyclops asked.
Not wanting to get caught up on one
single letter to an already made-up name I replied ‘Yes.' Then the
monster told me that for my kindness
he would eat me last.
After a few more cups of wine, Poly
passed out. At this point, my
remaining men and I picked up the spear and stabbed him in his one, and
only, eye. The beast awoke with a chilling cry and drew the attention
of the other inhabitants of the island.
Hearing his screams, the others
asked if he was okay. Polyphemus
replied, ‘No man hurt me! No man poked my eye out!’ So it was
incredibly lucky that I went along with his mispronunciation of my
name.
Upon hearing this, the others
responded, ‘Then shut up! Some of us need
our beauty sleep,’ and went home.
By now, Polyphemus was
furious. He opened the entrance to the
cave and sat there hoping we would try to escape. We needed a plan,
and I was just the person to come up with one.
I told my men to gather three sheep
each and to tie them together, and
as for myself, I got the Cyclops’ prized ram. After they had bound the
sheep, I
told them to hide underneath them so that when day broke, they would
run
outside and we would make our way to the ships without the Cyclops
knowing.
Sure enough, when the dawn came,
the
sheep began to run outside. The
whimpering Cyclops, unable to see, felt only the tops of them as we hid
on the bottom
and we safely made it back to the ship and set sail.
Once we were away from the island,
I could not help myself. I taunted
the Cyclops, who threw a rock at us as a response. This rock landed in
front of us and the resulting wave pushed us back towards the shore. My
men and I rowed farther out and I taunted ol' Poly again.
Polyphemus threw another rock and
this time it landed behind us,
helping us out to sea where we met the other ships. Once we were safe,
those of us who had escaped the Cyclops' cave celebrated and we set
sail once again, hoping
find our way back to Ithaca, and that is how I, Odysseus, defeated a
Cyclops."
"Grandpa, that didn't really happen, did it? There is no way that you
could have defeated Polyphemus. You are too old!"
"Well, I wasn't old back then. Now, shut your yapper and go home. There
will be no more stories until you show some respect to your elder and
believe me."
The Cyclops
Mark Fiore
The Illustrated
Odyssey: Book Nine
"The Illustrated Odyssey" by Joel Skidmore Website: Mythweb Web Source: The Illustrated
Odyssey: Book Nine
Author's note:
This story is one of the more important parts of his quest home.
Because it is important, I
felt that it deserved to be in an entry of its own, and as you can see,
I
had a little fun with this chapter of the story.
The story you just read is a retelling of Odysseus' journey home back
to Ithaca. One of my bigger changes is the style in which it is being
told. Odysseus is telling his tale to the children of Ithaca. I also
changed some of the dialogue. In the actually
story, Odysseus says his name is “No man” or “No body." For this I took
“No man” and changed it at first to “Norman." It is only because the
Cyclops misunderstands Odysseus that we arrive at “No
man." That I threw in there because I feel it will add a little bit of
humor.
Another addition that is nowhere near anything close to an event that
takes place in the actual story is Odysseus falling asleep while
telling the story. The big thing about this story is that Odysseus is
old, and he is telling it to some children. Because he is old, I
decided that I would have him fall asleep in the middle of telling the
story. This was put in to show just how old he is, give some
interaction with his audience, and hopefully bring in a little humor.
Back to Grandpa's Odyssey