Greek tradition [ca 1200 BCE]:
After telling of the quarrel at
Troy between Agamemnon & Achilles, in the Iliad,
Homer goes on in the sequel, the Odyssey (epic 'poem
of the hero Odysseus) to tell
the adventures on the way back home of one hero, Odysseus, famous for guile
& clever speaking & skillful story-telling.
[ca 550-ca 320 BCE]
stories of Odyssey & other
epic, Iliad, worked into definitive form by public reciters (rhapsodes='stitchers
of song') at Athens.
From the Odyssey, scroll or book 9,
part of the account of how Odysseus & his crew encountered the one-eyed
monster shepherd, the Cyclops Polyphemus.
(translation by Samuel Butler into prose not the original verse)
[Odysseus speaks, telling about his adventure with
the Cyclops to his hosts at supper, who are a queen & king]
."Then we began to turn our glances to the land
of the Kyklopes tribe nearby;
we could see smoke and hear voices and the bleating of sheep
and goats ..
When we reached the stretch of land I spoke of - it was not far
away -
there on the shore beside the sea we saw a high cave overarched
with bay-trees;
in this flocks of sheep and goats were housed at night,
and round its mouth had been made a courtyard with high walls of
quarried stone and with tall pines and towering oaks.
Here was the sleeping-place of a giant who used to pasture his
flocks far afield, alone;
it was not his way to visit the others of his tribe; he kept aloof,
and his mind was set on unrighteousness.
A monstrous ogre, unlike a man who had ever tasted bread,
he resembled rather some shaggy peak in a mountain-range, standing
out clear, away from the rest.
Most of my men I ordered to stay by the ship and guard
it, but I chose out twelve, the bravest, and sallied forth ..
I had forebodings that the stranger who might face us now would
wear brute strength like a garment round him, a savage whose heart
had little knowledge of just laws or of ordinances.
We came to the cavern soon enough, but we did not find him there
himself;
he was out on his pasture-land, tending his fat sheep and goats.
We went in and looked round at everything.
There were flat baskets laden with cheeses; there were pens filled
with lambs and kids, though these were divided among themselves -
here the firstlings, then the later-born, and the youngest of all
apart again.
Then, too, there were well-made dairy-vessels, large and small pails,
swimming with whey ..
I was eager to see the cavern's master and hoped he would offer
me the gifts of a guest, though as things fell out, it was no kind
host that my comrades were to meet.
Then we lit a fire, and laying hands on some of the cheeses
we first offered the gods their portion, then ate our own and sat
in the cavern waiting for the owner.
At length he returned, guiding his flocks and carrying with
him a stout bundle of dry firewood to burn at supper.
This, with a crash, he threw down inside, and we in dismay shrank
hastily back into a corner.
Next, he drove part of his flocks inside - the milking ewes and
milking goats - but left the rams and he-goats outside in the
fenced yard. Then to fill the doorway he heaved up a huge
heavy stone; two-and-twenty good four-wheeled wagons could not
shift such a boulder from the ground, but the Kyklops did, and fitted
it in its place - a massive towering piece of rock.
Then he sat down and began to milk the ewes and the bleating goats,
all in due order, and he put the young ones to their mothers.
Half the milk he now curdled, gathered the curd and laid it in
plaited baskets.
The other half he left standing in the vessels, meaning to take
and drink it at his supper.
Having quickly despatched these tasks of his, he rekindled the
fire and spied ourselves.
He asked us: 'Strangers, who are you? What land did you
sail from, over the watery paths?
Are you bound on some trading errand, or are you random adventurers,
roving the seas as pirates do, hazarding life and limb and bringing
havoc on men of another stock?"
So he spoke, and our hearts all sank; his thundering voice
and his monstrous presence cowed us.
But I plucked up courage enough to answer.
'We are Akhaians; we sailed from Troy and were bound for home ..
We have reached your presence, have come to your knees in supplication,
to receive, we hope, your friendly favour, to receive perhaps
some such present as custom expects from host to guest. Sir, I beg
you to reverence the gods.
We are suppliants, and Zeus himself is the champion of suppliants
and of guests; god of guests is a name of his; guests are august,
and Zeus goes with them.'
So I spoke. He answered at once and ruthlessly:
'Stranger, you must be a fool or have come from far afield if you
tell me to fear the gods or beware of them.
We of the Kyklopes race care nothing for Zeus and for his aegis;
we care for none of the gods in heaven, being much stronger ourselves
than they are.
Dread of the enmity of Zeus would never move me to spare either
you or the comrades with you, if I had no mind to it myself. But
tell me a thing I wish to know.
When you came here, where did you moor your ship?
Was it at some far point of the shore or was it near here?'
So he spoke to me, feeling his way, but I knew the world
and guessed what he was about.
So I countered him with crafty words.
'My ship was shattered by Poseidon ..'
To these words of mine the savage creature made no response
he only sprang up, and stretching his hands towards my companions
clutched two at once and battered them on the floor like puppies;
their brains gushed out and soaked the ground.
Then tearing them limb form limb he made his supper of them.
He began to eat like a mountain lion, leaving nothing, devouring
flesh and entrails and bones and marrow, while we in our tears and
helplessness looked on at these monstrous doings and held
up imploring hands to Zeus.
But when the Kyklops had filled his great belly with the
human flesh that he had devoured and the raw milk he washed it
down with he laid himself on the cavern floor with his limbs stretched
out among his beasts.