• Long ago, the Greek king Odysseus was sailing home from war with his men.
    Along the way, they stopped at an island where one-eyed man-eating giants called Cyclops lived.
    Odysseus and his men wandered into a cave belonging to the Cyclops Polyphemus. at twilight Polyphemus returned with his flocks of sheep. When Polyphemus and all the sheep were inside, he picked up a huge stone and closed the mouth of the cave. Odysseus and his men were trapped!
    Polyphemus ate up two of Odysseus' men and fell fast asleep. In the morning he ate two more men, after blocking the cave's mouth, he went off with his sheep. The stone was too heavy for the men to move. Odysseus, however, thought of a plan. He sharpened a branch of an olive tree.
    When Polyphemus came backhome that night, Odysseus offered him wine. The Cyclops drank it and asked Odysseus about his name.
    Odysseus answered, "People call me Nobody."
    "Your gift, Nobody, is that I shall eat you last," said Polyphemus. And drunk with wine, he fell fast asleep.
    Odysseus then then took the great sharp branch and drove it into the giant's eye, blinding him. When Polyphemus cried out for help, the other Cyclops shouted, "Who is hurting you?"
    "Nobody," screamed Polyphemus.
    "Well then, you don't need our helpfrom us," said the other giants.
    Meanwhile, Odysseus and each of his men lashed together three sheep. Under each sheep, each man clung to the fleece. Finally everybody was hidden.
    Polyphemus did not think of feeling under the bellies of the sheep. Nd so, the men escaped to their ship and continued their long journy home, where they had a great story to tell.