Ι- I am Odysseus

Odysseus began to narrate his suffering and adventures right in the middle of the throne room to everyone, so that they would realize how much he longed to return to Ithaca. Odysseus then began to share his pain, how they were sailing from Troy in his ship when a stormy wind sent him and his companions to the land of the dreaded Cicones. The Cicones were a barbarian people who, when they found out about Odysseus's companions, turned on them. In the deadly battle that began, Odysseus lost six of his companions.

After the land of the Kikons, Odysseus' ship landed on the island of the Lotus Eaters. Odysseus' companions hurried to eat from the lotuses of the trees. Odysseus warned them not to eat from the fruit, since anyone who made this mistake would forget their loved ones and their homeland forever. When they escaped from the island of the Lotus-eaters, they were hit again by a strong wind and storm, which swept Odysseus' ship into unknown waters. Days passed until they reached the island with the Cyclops. The Cyclops were ferocious giants, with one eye in the middle of their forehead. They lived by grazing their sheep and lived isolated, in caves, from each other.

Odysseus gathered some of his companions and set off together to explore the island and find supplies and food. They also brought with them a wineskin with sweet wine. The group soon came to explore the entrance to a cave, in which Odysseus and his companions found an abundance of cheese and lamb's milk. After a while a herd of sheep entered the cave, while behind it appeared the giant Cyclops of the cave, who as soon as he saw the people stealing his cheese, grabbed a huge rock and sealed the entrance of the cave, locking them all inside.

The Cyclops shouted fiercely at the tiny "invaders" and told them that he was the son of the sea god and his name was Polyphemus. "How dare you enter my cave?" asked. Odysseus took it upon himself to answer the Cyclops, but avoided telling him his name. "We are Greeks returning from Troy. My name is Nobody," he replied to the Cyclops Polyphemus. Then he kindly asked him to help him find his way back from Troy. The son of Poseidon mocked him, grabbed two of his companions and gave them a drink, causing horror to Odysseus and his companions, then fell asleep. The next morning Polyphemus ate two more. He led the sheep out of the cave and sealed the entrance again with the rock, which not even a hundred men, let alone the rest of Odysseus' exploration party, could have moved. The resourceful Odysseus then came up with a cunning plan to escape. He took a thick tree trunk that was inside the cave, hewed it with the others to make it pointy at the end and dipped it in the dung.

When Polyphemus returned in the evening, he ate two more companions of Odysseus. He then took the floor and urged Cyclops to drink wine, which was the custom of the Achaeans after eating, so he gave him some of the wine he had with him. Cyclops, who had never drunk before, was sweetened by the taste of wine. He drank it all with gusto and after a while fell fast asleep. It was the opportunity that Odysseus and his companions had been waiting for. They picked up the pointed wooden log, put it on the fire to glow and thrust it into the eye of the Cyclops to blind him. Polyphemus screamed in pain and as he could not see, he could not spot the small men running around him in the cave. The son of Poseidon called the other Cyclops of the island to help him, because the Nobody had blinded him! "Since no one blinded you, don't blind us!", they answered him. In a last attempt to catch Achaeus who had blinded him, Polyphemus moved the rock thus letting the sheep out of his cave. The Cyclops felt the backs of the animals to trap the strangers, but they were hanging under the bellies of the sheep. With this clever plan Odysseus and his companions were freed and ran back to the ship.

Soon they were away from the giant Cyclops and then Odysseus mocking his son Poseidon shouted loudly: "If they ask you who really blinded you Polyphemus, tell them that Odysseus did it, king of Ithaca!". Polyphemus then grabbed a rock and hurled it at the boat. In fact, he almost sank it. Then he raised his hands to heaven and prayed to his father Poseidon, begging him to punish Odysseus for his sake.