TALES OF OLD

Press, Volume LXXI, Issue 21416, 7 March 1935, Page 5 (Supplement)

TALES OF OLD

The Cave of Polyphemus

Whan by all rights Odysseus should have doubled Cape Malea on his return from Troy, and been within a short distance of home, the north wind swept him away again, and for nine whole days his \z ships were borne over the unknown deep. On (lie tenth they rtached the land of the lotus-eaters.

The lotus was a llower, of honeysweet fruit, which cast a spell of forget fulness over those who ate it. Odysseus put. hastily to sea again, dragging some of his men away. for had they succumbed to tilt-.- lotus they would never have seen again their island home.

Next they i-aine to the laud of the Cyclops, where Odysseus was minded to put ashore. Leaving all but his own slap's company on a nearby island, fie rowed across to inspect a great cave visible from the shore. This cave was the home of Polyphemus, "a may of monstrous size, who shepherded his tlcicks alone and afar, and was not conversant with others, but dwelt apart in lawlessness of mind."

When the giant came home, one of his first actions was to place across the mouth of the cave an enormous doorstone, and, ol' course, when he kindled his evening fire he caught sight of the seafarers within. He questioned them harshly, then, dashing two men to the ground, he calmly cut them up for supper. The alarm of the survivors can well be imagined. If they killed the giant they could not possibly move the doorstone; if they did not kill him, they would certainly furnish his supper. This i'al.e overtook two more next day. vvlion the giant drove out his flocks lo pasture and set the stone firmly in place behind him. Now the patiently cunning Odysseus was left to think out some means of escape for the survivors. A point, he did not overlook was that Polyphemus had only one eye, in the centre of his forehead. He found a great spar of olive wood in the cave, and cutting off a fathom's length, he sharpened it to a point which he hardened in the fire. When the giant returned, and took his usual supper, Odysseus

THE WANDERINGS OF ODYSSEUS

(By D.G.)

gave him some very choice wine he happened to have brought ashore, and this he enjoyed so much that he asked Odysseus his name, and promised to eat him last of all as a special favour. Odysseus said that Norman was his name. Polyphemus soon dropped off to sleep, aided no doubt by a hearty supper and good wine. Odysseus and four others then heated the stake in the lire and thrust it desperately into the giant's eye. Blinded and maddened, Polyphemus created an awful din, calling in a loud voice upon the neighbouring Cyclops, and shouting "Norman is slaying me by guile!" Gathered outside the massive doorstone, the Cyclopes, wakened from sleep, came to the charitable conclusion that Polyphemus had gone a little mad, to make such a din if no man were troubling him. And they went comfortably back to bed.

The blinded giant groped his way miserably to the entrance, moved the rock, and sat with arms outstretched to catch those who tried to get past when he let out the sheep. But Odysseus was again equal to the occasion. He lashed the sheep together in threes and bound a man under the centre one. Under the largest ram he clung himself, grasping it by the fleece. Thus in the morning the Greeks escaped, though the vigilant Cyclops felt the back of each of the sheep as it went past. The sheep were promptly driven aboard and the mooring cast. But Odysseus could not refrain from shouting taunts at Polyphemus. The giant's answer was to call down the vengeance of his father Poseidon, god of the sea, upon the heroes, and to break off the peak of a hill which he hurled after the ship. A second, larger than the first, did he also hurl, and blind though he was, both missiles nearly ended the adventurous life of Odysseus before the heroes gained the safety of the sea and rejoined their comrades.

Odysseus had avoided the wrath of Polyphemus, but the wrath of Poseidon, the earth-shaker, the lord of the deep, was to follow him for many years.