Take a seat at the Phaeacian feast and listen to Odysseus tell of his blinding cyclops giant Polyphemus
At the feast of the Phaeacians, Odysseus relates the story of his blinding of Polyphemus,...
Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
Transcript
ODYSSEUS: The giant spoke, leaned back, and fell supine; and
rolled his huge neck round sideways, overcome
by sleep the conqueror. Out of his mouth came wine
and gobbets of human flesh spewed up in drunken vomit.
Now I pushed the pole into the heart of the fire
'til it grew hot, and glowed and sparkled terribly;
and then--God gave us courage--I with my comrades
pulled it out of the fire and thrust it into his eye!
While they pressed it down, I stood above and turned it
hard, like a ship's carpenter drilling into a plank.
His eyelid and his brow were seared by the fierce heat,
his eyeball burned away; the nerves swelled up and burst.
He roared a hideous roar that boomed all round the cave
and wrenched the pole, smeared with blood, out of his eye.
rolled his huge neck round sideways, overcome
by sleep the conqueror. Out of his mouth came wine
and gobbets of human flesh spewed up in drunken vomit.
Now I pushed the pole into the heart of the fire
'til it grew hot, and glowed and sparkled terribly;
and then--God gave us courage--I with my comrades
pulled it out of the fire and thrust it into his eye!
While they pressed it down, I stood above and turned it
hard, like a ship's carpenter drilling into a plank.
His eyelid and his brow were seared by the fierce heat,
his eyeball burned away; the nerves swelled up and burst.
He roared a hideous roar that boomed all round the cave
and wrenched the pole, smeared with blood, out of his eye.