"And the Cyclops answered with a groan: 'Of a truth, the old prophecies are fulfilled; for long ago there came to this land a prophet who foretold to me that Ulysses would rob me of my sight. But I looked for a great and strong man, who should subdue me by force, and now a weakling has done the deed, having cheated me with wine.'
"Then the Cyclops lifted up his hands to Poseidon and prayed: 'Hear me, Poseidon, if I am indeed thy son and thou my father. May this Ulysses never reach his home! or, if the Fates have ordered that he should reach it, may he come alone, all his comrades lost, and come to find sore trouble in his house!'
"And as he ended, he hurled another mighty rock, which almost lighted on the rudder's end, yet missed it as by a hair's breadth. And the wave that it raised was so great that it bare us to the other shore.
"So we came to the island of the wild goats, where we found our comrades, who, indeed, had waited long for us in sore fear lest we had perished. Then I divided amongst my company all the sheep which we had taken from the Cyclops. And all, with one consent, gave me for my share the great ram which had carried me out of the cave, and I sacrificed it to Zeus. And all that day we feasted right merrily on the flesh of sheep and on sweet wine, and when the night was come, we lay down upon the shore and slept.
CHAPTER XI
AEOLUS;[Footnote: AE'-o-lus.]
THE LAESTRYGONS;[Footnote: Laes'-try-gons.]
CIRCE [Footnote: Cir'-ce.]
(THE TALE OF ULYSSES)
"The next morning we set sail, and came, after a while, to the island where dwelleth AEolus. A floating island it is, and it hath about it an unbroken wall of bronze. For a whole month did the King entertain me in friendly fashion, and I told him the whole story of the things that had been done at Troy.
"Afterwards I told him of my journey, and asked help of him. And he gave me the skin of an ox nine years old, in which he had bound all the winds that were contrary to me, for Zeus hath made him keeper of the winds, that he may rouse them or put them to rest as he will. This pouch of ox-hide he bound fast to the deck of the ship with a thong of silver, that not a wind might escape from it. But he let a gentle west wind blow, that it might carry me and my comrades to our home. For nine days it blew, and now we were near to Ithaca, our country, so that we saw the men that tended the beacon-lights, for it was now near to the dawn on the tenth day.
"But now, by an ill chance, I fell asleep, being wholly wearied out, for I had held the helm for nine days, nor trusted it to any of my comrades. And while I slept my comrades, who had cast eyes of envy on the great ox-hide, said one to another:—