Then I considered in my great heart whether I should not draw my sharp sword, and stab him in the breast. But upon second thought, I held back. For I knew that we would not be able to roll away with our hands the heavy stone which the giant had set against the door, and we would then have perished in the cave. So, all night long, we crouched trembling in the darkness, and waited the coming of the day.
Now, when the rosy-fingered Dawn shone forth, the Cyclops arose and kindled the fire. Then he is milked his goodly flock, and beneath each ewe he set her lamb. When he had done all his work busily, he seized two others of my men, and made ready his morning meal. And after the meal, he moved away the great door stone, and drove his fat flocks forth from the cave; and when the last sheep had gone out, he set the stone in its place again, as one might set the lid of a quiver. Then, with a loud whoop, he turned his flocks toward the hills; but I was left shut up in the cave, and thinking what we should do to avenge ourselves.
And at last this plan seemed to me the best. Not far from the sheepfold there lay a great club of the Cyclops, a club of olive wood, yet green, which he had cut to carry with him when it should be fully seasoned. Now when we looked at this stick, it seemed to us as large as the mast of a black ship of twenty oars, a wide merchant vessel that sails the vast sea. I stood by it, and cut off from it a piece some six feet in length, and set it by my men, and bade them trim it down and make it smooth; and while they did this, I stood by and sharpened it to a point. Then I took it and hardened it in the bright fire; and after that, I laid it away and hid it. And I bade my men cast lots to determine which of them should help me, when the time came, to lift the sharp and heavy stick and turn it about in the Cyclops’ eye. And the lots fell upon those whom I would have chosen, and I appointed myself to be the fifth among them.
II
In the evening the Cyclops came home, bringing his well-fleeced flocks; and soon he drove the beasts, each and all, into the cave, and left not one outside in the high-walled yard. Then he lifted the huge door stone, and set it in the mouth of the cave; and after that he milked the ewes and the bleating goats, all in order, and beneath each ewe he placed her young.
Now when he had done all his work busily, he seized two others of my men, and made ready his supper. Then I stood before the Cyclops and spoke to him, holding in my hands a bowl of dark wine: “Cyclops, take this wine and drink it after thy feast, that thou mayest know what kind of wine it was that our good ship carried. For, indeed, I was bringing it to thee as a drink offering, if haply thou wouldst pity us and send us on our way home; but thy mad rage seems to have no bounds.”
So I spoke, and he took the cup and drank the wine; and so great was his delight that he asked me for yet a second draught.
“Kindly give me more, and tell me thy name, so that I may give thee a stranger’s gift and make thee glad.”
Thus he spoke, and again I handed him the dark wine. Three times did I hand it to him, and three times did he drink it to the dregs. But when the wine began to confuse his wits, then I spoke to him with soft words:
“O Cyclops, thou didst ask for my renowned name, and now I will tell it to thee; but do thou grant me a stranger’s gift, as thou hast promised. My name is No-man; my father and my mother and all my companions call me No-man.”