Part 15

"Give me more," he demanded. "In good truth this is a strange draught. We, too, have vines but they do not yield any juices like this, which indeed must be such as the gods drink."

Then Ulysses gave him the skin again and he drank from it. Three times he gave it to him and three times the giant drank, not knowing how it would work on his brain. At last he fell into a deep slumber. Ulysses told his men to be of good courage for the time of their deliverance was come.

They thrust the olive stick into the fire until, green as it was, it was ready to burst into flame and they thrust it into the monster's eye, for he had but one eye set in the middle of his great forehead, and made him sightless.

Then the Cyclops leaped up and bore away the stake and cried aloud so that all the Cyclopes who lived on the mountain side heard him and came down, crowding about the entrance to his cave. The Cyclops rolled away the great stone from the door of the cave and came out in the midst of the other giants stretching out his hands to try and gather his sheep together. And Ulysses wondered how he and his men would be able to escape.

At last he lighted on a good device. The Cyclops had driven the rams with the other ship into the cave and they were huge and strong. Ulysses fastened his comrades underneath the rams, tying them with osier twigs of which the giant made his bed. There was one mighty ram, far larger than all the others, and to this Ulysses clung, grasping the fleece tight with both hands. So they waited in the recesses of the cave for morning. And when the morning came, the rams rushed out to pasture as the giant sat in the door, feeling the back of each as it went by, but never touching the man who was bound underneath each. With them Ulysses escaped.

When they were out of reach of the giant, Ulysses loosed his hold of the rams and then unbound his comrades. They hastened to their ship, climbed in, and smote the sea with their oars, laying to right lustily that they might the sooner escape from this accursed land. But when they had rowed a hundred yards or so, the Cyclops heard them. He broke off the top of a great hill, a mighty rock, and hurled it where he heard the sound of the oars. It fell right in front of the ship's bow and washed the ship back to the shore again. But Ulysses seized a long pole with both hands and pushed the ship from the land and bade his comrades ply their oars softly, nodding with his head, for he was too wise to speak, lest the Cyclops should know where they were. Then they rowed with all their might and main.

They had gone twice as far as before, when Ulysses' pride became so great that he could no longer contain himself. He stood up in the boat and called out.

"Hear, Cyclops. If any man asks who destroyed your power for evil, say it was the warrior Ulysses, dwelling in Ithaca."

The giant heard and he lifted up his hands and spoke to Neptune, the god of the sea, who was the father of the Cyclopes. "Hear me, Neptune, if I am indeed your son and you are my father. May this Ulysses never reach his home; or, if the Fates have ordered that he shall reach it, may he come alone, with all his comrades lost."

And as the Cyclops ended this wicked prayer, he hurled another mighty rock which almost lighted on the rudder's end, yet missed it as if by a hair's breadth. So Ulysses escaped and all his comrades with him, and they came to the island of the wild goats where they found the rest of their men who had waited long for them in sore fear lest they had perished. And they went home in triumph to Greece.

FOOTNOTE:

[3] Copyright Doubleday, Page and Co.

GLOSSARY.

Achelous Ach-e-lo'us

Achilles A-chil'les

Acrisius A-cris'i-us

Admetus Ad-me'tus

Aegean Ae-ge'an

Aeneas Ae-ne'as

Aesculapius Aes'cu-la'pi-us

Aetna Aet'na

Agamemnon Aga'mem-non

Alcestis Al-ces'tis

Alpheus Al-phe'us

Andromeda An-drom'e-da

Antaeus An-tae'us

Arachne A-rach'ne

Arcas Ar'cas

Arethusa Ar-e-thu'sa

Argonaut Ar'go-naut

Argos Ar'gos

Ariadne A-ri-ad'ne

Aristaeus Ar-is-tae'us

Atalanta At-a-lan'ta

Attica At'tica

Argus Ar'gus

Aurora Au-ro'ra

Bacchus Bac'chus

Battus Bat'tus

Baucis Bau'cis

Bellerophon Bel-ler'o-phon

Belvidere Bel-vi-dere

Boreas Bo're-as

Cadmus Cad'mus

Callisto Cal-lis'to

Cassandra Cas-san'dra

Cassiopeia Cas-si-o-pe'ia

Celeus Ce'le-us

Cerberus Cer'be-rus

Ceres Ce'res

Charon Cha'ron

Chimaera Chi-mae'ra

Circe Cir'ce

Colchis Col'chis

Crete Cre'te

Cyane Cy'a-ne

Cyclopes Cy-clo'pes

Cycnus Cyc'nus

Cyrene Cy-re'ne

Daedalus Daed'a-lus

Danae Dan'a-e

Daphne Daph'ne

Dejanira Dej'a-ni'ra

Delos De'los

Delphi Del'phi

Diana Di-a'na

Elis E'lis

Elysian E-lys'i-an

Enceladus En-cel'a-dus

Ephialtes Eph'i-al'tes

Epimetheus Ep-i-me'theus

Erisichthon Er-i-sich'thon

Europa Eu-ro'pa

Eurydice Eu-ryd'i-ce

Eurystheus Eu-rys'theus

Galatea Gal-a-te'a

Glaucus Glau'cus

Gordius Gor'di-us

Gorgon Gor'gon

Halcyone Hal-cy'o-ne

Hamadryad Ham-a-dry'ad

Hebe He'be

Hector Hec'tor

Helios He'lios

Hercules Her'cu-les

Hesperides Hes-per'i-des

Hesperus Hes'pe-rus

Hippomenes Hip-pom'e-nes

Hydra Hy'dra

Icarus I'ca-rus

Iobates I-ob'a-tes

Iris I'ris

Laocoon La-oc'o-on

Latona La-to'na

Lemnos Lem'nos

Lycia Lyc'i-a

Medusa Me-du'sa

Melampos Me-lam'pos

Menelaus Men-e-la'us

Mercury Mer'cu-ry

Merope Mer'o-pe

Midas Mi'das

Minerva Mi-ner'va

Minos Mi'nos

Minotaur Min'o-taur

Mosychlos Mosy'chlos

Nemea Ne'me-a

Nereides Ne-re'i-des

Olympus O-lym'pus

Orion O-ri'on

Orpheus Or'pheus

Ossa Os'sa

Otus O-tus

Ovid Ov'id

Pactolus Pac-to'lus

Pandora Pan-do'ra

Patroclus Pa-tro'clus

Pegasus Peg'a-sus

Pelias Pe'li-as

Peneus Pe-ne'us

Perseus Per'seus

Phaeton Pha'e-ton

Phineas Phin'e-us

Polydectes Pol-y-dec'tes

Priam Pri'am

Prometheus Pro-me'theus

Proserpine Pro-ser'pine

Philemon Phi-le'mon

Phrygia Phryg'ia

Pomona Po-mo'na

Proteus Pro'teus

Psyche Psy'che

Pygmalion Pyg-ma'lion

Pylos Py-los

Python Py'thon

Samos Sa'mos

Scylla Scyl'la

Seriphus Se-ri'phus

Sinon Si'non

Sirius Sir'i-us

Somnus Som'nus

Terminalia Ter'mi-nal-ia

Theseus The'se-us

Thessaly Thess'a-ly

Thetis The'tis

Thracian Thra-ci'an

Tityus Tit'yus

Trachine Tra'ch-ine

Tmolus Tmo'lus

Triton Tri'ton

Troegene Troe'gene

Ulysses U-lys'ses

Vertumnus Ver-tum'nus

Vulcan Vul'can

End of Project Gutenberg's Wonder Stories, by Carolyn Sherwin Bailey