This is a chapter of Once Upon A Time: Children’s Stories From The Classics by Blanche Winder.
And what had Odysseus been doing through all these long years, before he came under the enchantment of Calypso in her vine-draped cave?
Well, first of all, he had nearly fallen a prey to the magic of the lotus eaters. They were the laziest people in all the world, and they lived on an island where lotus trees grew everywhere, bearing fruits most lovely to look at and delicious to eat. But whoever tasted the lotus apples never wanted to do anything but sit under the shade of the trees and eat the enchanted fruit forever. Luckily for Odysseus, when he and his crew landed on the island he did not taste the fruit himself; but three of his men gathered and ate from the laden boughs, and, settling down immediately to rest on the flowery grass, declared they never intended to go home to their wives and families again. So Odysseus and the other seamen took them back to the ship by main force, and then they sailed away as fast as they could before any more of the crew could taste the fruit that was so delicious, but that made people lazy and useless for the rest of their lives.
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The next place the king’s vessel touched at was the country of the Cyclopes — awful-looking giants who had only one eye apiece, right in the middle of their foreheads! They were great shepherds in their own way and lived on the milk of vast herds of goats and sheep. Odysseus and his followers landed on the beach, crept up the hill through the laurel bushes, and soon found themselves at the entrance to an enormous cave, fenced around with a marble wall, and hidden from the world by woods of pine and oak.
Bravely they entered this gloomy cavern and, looking around, saw that it was lined with shelves, laden with big round cheeses; while many sheep and lambs were folded in the deep, quiet places beyond. As the sailors gazed with interest at all these things, they heard heavy footsteps outside, and in stalked the greatest Cyclops of the country, a huge giant with one blazing eye, who carried a load of pine trees on his back as easily as a bundle of faggots. Running in front of him came flocks of sheep and goats; and, when all were inside, the giant rolled an enormous rock before the cave’s mouth and shut everybody up.
At this, Odysseus and his men were so much frightened that they hurried silently to the very farthest corners of the cavern, and flattened themselves out against the damp walls, like so many bats. But the giant —after setting out a cheese or two, with some bowls as big as beer barrels, filled with milk, which he meant to have for his supper— lit a blazing fire in the middle of the cave; and, as the red glow shone into the far corners, caught sight of his unexpected and terrified visitors.
With a frightful roar of rage, he glared at them out of his huge eye and demanded to know what they were doing in his secret cavern. Odysseus, shaking with fright, did his best to answer bravely, telling the giant that he and his men were lost wanderers, trying to find their way home to Greece. The Cyclops listened sullenly; then, with another roar, he stretched out his hand, seized a couple of the poor sailors, and, without hesitation, ate them up! Having done this, he coolly stretched himself in front of the fire and went to sleep.
Odysseus recovered his courage at this terrible sight, for anger made him strong and brave again. He drew his sword to kill the snoring giant; then paused and thought better. No one but the Cyclops was strong enough to roll away the rock in front of the entrance to the cave. If he were killed, the king and his followers would remain shut up and must starve to death. So Odysseus went back to his frightened companions; and they all lay, crouched and huddled together, as far as possible from the sleeping giant, until the morning.
When dawn came, this horrible Cyclops, without saying a word or even giving one of his dreadful roars, calmly ate two more of the sailors for his breakfast. Then, pleased and whistling, he rolled away the mountain of rock from the door and drove his flocks out into the cool air of the morning. Following them with his great strides, he closed the cave again; and Odysseus heard his enormous voice echoing outside like thunder rolling and roaring among the wooded hills.
So there was the king fastened up with what was left of his unhappy crew in the cave of this frightful monster. But Odysseus was one of the cleverest people in the world. Had not Athena always looked after him and taught him wisdom? He thought things over for some time; then had a good look at the giant’s club, which was really a big tree, as tall and strong as a ship’s mast. Cutting off the top of this tree, he made his sailors shape and sharpen it until it was like an enormous wooden spear. Then they hardened the point in the fire and hid the weapon they had so cunningly made. Afterward, they all sat down —a long way from the door— to wait for evening and the giant’s return.
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Presently they heard the earth shake with his tread. Once more he rolled back the great rock and drove the bleating flocks into the cave. Then, as usual, he shut everything up and made his supper from milk and cheese, finishing off with two more of the unhappy crew! Just as he was lying down to go to sleep, however, Odysseus approached him humbly, and in his hand the king carried a brimming goblet of wine.
Now this wine had been brought into the cave by the sailors when they first found their way there. It was delicious and tasted like the nectar of the immortals. Pretending to be very friendly, the king offered the goblet to the Cyclops, who seized it greedily and emptied it at a draught.
The giant thought it quite the nicest drink he had ever tasted — so much sweeter and richer than his usual bowl of milk. Instantly he demanded more, and for the first time asked the name of the person who carried about with him so excellent a drink. Odysseus, refilling the goblet, said very craftily that his name was Noman.
“Then, Noman,” replied the giant, “I will grant you a special favor. You shall be the last of my visitors that I will eat!”
Then he went on drinking the king’s wine until he had had so much that all he wanted was to go to sleep. He sank stupidly by the embers of the fire and soon began to snore.
Then Odysseus and the sailors that were left brought out the great wooden spear. The king made the point quite hot in the glowing ashes, raised the club high in the air, and plunged it, straight as a mighty arrow, into the Cyclops’s one and only eye! With a terrible roar, like a hundred lions growling at once, the giant awoke and began to plunge about the cavern in his pain and rage. Hearing his shouts and screams, all the other giants in the neighborhood rushed from their dens among the rocks and, gathering about the mouth of the cave, called out to know what was the matter.
“Matter!” roared the Cyclops inside, “Noman is the matter! Noman has done this! Noman is answerable. Come inside and you will see Noman — hear Noman — and be able to kill Noman!”
“If that is the case,” answered his friends in a huff, “we can do nothing for you! You say no man is the author of your trouble. Then it must be the Shining Ones themselves who are afflicting you, and the best thing we can do is to go away!”
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So all the giants went away, and the raging monster within, spreading out his wide arms, found and rolled away the great rock from the cavern’s mouth. He thought he could catch “Noman” and his friends as they tried to get out. When the sheep and goats saw that the way was open, they quickly began to pass through the entrance into the meadows outside. As they stepped past, the giant carefully felt each animal with his great hands, to see that it really was sheep or goat, and not one of his hidden foes. When Odysseus saw this, he did the cleverest thing he had ever done in his life. He tied three sheep together, very swiftly and silently, and bound one of his sailors right underneath the body of the middle animal, so that, as the three pressed out side by side, the giant never discovered that they were carrying a man in the midst of them. This Odysseus did for all his men in turn. Then, trembling with anxiety, he himself slipped under the body of a great, strong, beautiful ram, fixed his hands firmly in its wool, and was also drawn out from the cave, all unknown to the blinded, angry, growling giant.
So there they were this brave, clever king and his handful of sailors, safe outside the cave of the Cyclops. No sooner were they free than they ran for the shore, driving many of the giant’s flocks before them. Hurriedly they drove the sheep and goats on board, hoisted their sails, and began to move away from this dreadful country, while Odysseus, unable to help boasting of his triumph, raised a loud shout of victory, which reached the blinded giant on the heights above.
Then the Cyclops knew that “Noman” had really escaped, after all. Rushing to the cliff, he began hurling great stones down into the sea channel through which he knew the ship must pass. But Odysseus steered his vessel safely past this new danger, and, standing in the bows, sent another mighty shout of victory up to the cliffs above.
“Cyclops!” he cried “You need no longer think that it was Noman who conquered you, for it was I, Odysseus, king of Ithaca, who also overthrew the great city of Troy!”