_Cyclops. Posidon_
_Cy_. Only look, father, what that cursed stranger has been doing to
me! He made me drunk, and set upon me whilst I was asleep, and blinded
me.
_Po_. Who has dared to do this?
_Cy_. He called himself 'Noman' at first: but when he had got safely
out of range, he said his name was Odysseus.
_Po_. I know—the Ithacan; on his way back from Troy. But how did he
come to do such a thing? He is not distinguished for courage.
_Cy_. When I got back from the pasture, I caught a lot of the fellows
in my cave. Evidently they had designs upon the sheep: because when I
had blocked up my doorway (I have a great big stone for that), and
kindled a fire, with a tree that I had brought home from the
mountain,—there they were trying to hide themselves. I saw they were
robbers, so I caught a few of them, and ate them of course, and then
that scoundrel of a Noman, or Odysseus, whichever it is, gave me
something to drink, with a drug in it; it tasted and smelt very good,
but it was villanously heady stuff; it made everything spin round; even
the cave seemed to be turning upside down, and I simply didn't know
where I was; and finally I fell off to sleep. And then he sharpened
that stake, and made it hot in the fire, and blinded me in my sleep;
and blind I have been ever since, father.
_Po_. You must have slept pretty soundly, my boy, or you would have
jumped up in the middle of it. Well, and how did Odysseus get off? He
couldn't move that stone away, _I_ know.
_Cy_. I took that away myself, so as to catch him as he went out. I sat
down in the doorway, and felt about for him with my hands. I just let
the sheep go out to pasture, and told the ram everything I wanted done.
_Po_. Ah! and they slipped out under the sheep? But you should have set
the other Cyclopes on to him.
_Cy_. I did call them, and they came: but when they asked me who it was
that was playing tricks with me, I said 'Noman'; and then they thought
I was mad, and went off home again. The villain! that name of his was
just a trick! And what I minded most was the way in which he made game
of my misfortune: 'Not even Papa can put this right,' he said.
_Po_. Never mind, my boy; I will be even with him. I may not be able to
cure blindness, but he shall know that I have something to say to
mariners. He is not home yet.