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I could see in his black eyes that this was no lie.
    The teal’s story continued. As dawn’s light crept through the cracks of the Cyclops’s cave, the monster woke and made a fire. After that he milked his goats, and then, just as my master hoped he would roll aside the great boulder, the monstersnatched up two men and ate them for breakfast, ignoring the screams of despair and outrage of my master’s men.
    After he had dined, the monster rolled aside the great boulder so that he could let his sheep out to graze, but he stood by the door watching to make sure that Odysseus and his men did not escape. Then he rolled the boulder back across as he left, leaving them trapped inside.
    My master was left with his black thoughts of how he might avenge his men while the monster whistled to his flocks, guiding them to the pastures beyond the cave. Before the fire that had been lit could burn out, brave Odysseus found a wooden club the monster had left to dry. It was nearly as long as the mast on a ship of twenty oars, but my master and his men chopped it until it was the height of a man so that they could lift it. Then my master set to sharpening its end into a fine point while the rest of his men made it smooth.
    When that job was done, the men, fearing that the monster might return at any moment, put the point of the spear into the fire to harden it. Finally, when the tip had turned black, they hid the spear and prayed to the gods they would have the chance to use it. As the men rested from their labors, they drew lots to decide who would help brave Odysseus spear the monster while he slept that night.
    When the evening came, the monster rolled back the stone carefully so that no one could escape, and he brought in his goats and sheep from their pasturing. After that, he milked the goats and sheep, filling his great bucket, and when his work was done, he snatched two of my master’s men and ate them. Then did my master approach the monster and say, “Here, Cyclops, now that you have committed so terrible a thing as to eat human flesh, drink this wine from our ship. I brought it for you as a gift yesterday, before your cruelty, but now drink of it and take pity on us.”
    So the monster took the great wine skins and drank them dry, and he was terribly pleased at its taste, for he demanded more.
    â€œGive it freely,” he thundered, “and tell me your name so that I may also give you a gift.” But my master, the Wily One, did not trust the monster; instead he gave him more wine, until he was certain the monster’s brain was addled with it, for no five men could drink that quantity and still stand. Then my master spoke. “Cyclops, you ask me my name and I will tell you, but you must then give me the gift you have promised. Nobody is my name. My father and my mother call me Nobody, as do all my companions.”
    So the Wily One spoke, but the monster was pitiless andsaid, “My gift, then, is that I shall eat Nobody last, after I have eaten his men. That is my gift to you!” He laughed, and his joy was terrible to behold. And after he said this, the giant lay back and then slumped onto his bedding, asleep.
    Then brave Odysseus brought out the great spear from its hiding place, and they heated the tip in the fire until it glowed bright. After speaking words of courage to his men, my master dragged the spear from the fire, and together they lifted it above their shoulders and charged, thrusting it into the monster’s eye, where it sizzled with the sound of a crashing wave.
    The monster gave a horrible cry and flailed his massive arms, but my master and his men ducked his grasp and hid in the shadows. With a groan the monster tore the timber from his eye, and it bubbled with blood. Then he cried out to the other Cyclopes who lived nearby, and they came running to his cave.
    â€œWhy, Polyphemus, do you cry out? Why have you made us sleepless tonight? Surely no mortal can be