duly done his shepherd's work, he took, as before, two of my comrades, and
devoured them. And when he had finished his supper, I came forward,
holding the wineskin in my hand, and said,--

"Drink, Cyclops, now that thou hast feasted. Drink, and see what precious
things we had in our ship. But no one hereafter will come to thee with
such like, if thou dealest with strangers as cruelly as thou hast dealt
with us."

Then the Cyclops drank, and was mightily pleased, and said, "Give me again
to drink, and tell me thy name, stranger, and I will give thee a gift such
as a host should give. In good truth this is a rare liquor. We, too, have
vines, but they bear not wine like this, which, indeed, must be such as
the Gods drink in heaven."

Then I gave him the cup again, and he drank. Thrice I gave it to him, and
thrice he drank, not knowing what it was, and how it would work within his
brain.

Then I spake to him: "Thou didst ask my name, Cyclops. My name is No Man.
And now that thou knowest my name, thou shouldst give me thy gift."

And he said, "My gift shall be that I will eat thee last of all thy
company."

And as he spake, he fell back in a drunken sleep. Then I bade my comrades
be of good courage, for the time was come when they should be delivered.
And they thrust the stake of olive-wood into the fire till it was ready,
green as it was, to burst into flame, and they thrust it into the
monster's eye; for he had but one eye, and that in the midst of his
forehead, with the eyebrow below it. And I, standing above, leant with all
my force upon the stake, and turned it about, as a man bores the timber of
a ship with a drill. And the burning wood hissed in the eye, just as the
red-hot iron hisses in the water when a man seeks to temper steel for a
sword.

Then the giant leapt up, and tore away the stake, and cried aloud, so that
all the Cyclops who dwelt on the mountain-side heard him and came about
his cave, asking him, "What aileth thee, Polyphemus, that thou makest this
uproar in the peaceful night, driving away sleep? Is any one robbing thee
of thy sheep, or seeking to slay thee by craft or force?"

And the giant answered, "No Man slays me by craft."

"Nay, but," they said, "if no man does thee wrong we cannot help thee. The
sickness which great Zeus may send, who can avoid? Pray to our father,
Neptune, for help."

So they spake, and I laughed in my heart when I saw how I had beguiled
them by the name that I had