Once Odysseus, a clever Greek hero, wondered if the gods had forsaken him. "Have the gods forgotten me?" Odysseus always wondered. Odysseus and his crew were lost.  The Trojan War was over. They finally found land, but had no idea where they were. 

After looking around, they saw a cave and wondered what or who lived in it. They didn't go in the cave, because they were not sure what might live there. Odysseus spoke out and said, "We'll search the cave at dawn." 

When dawn came, Odysseus was the first up and woke his crew. They started to the cave but suddenly, the Cyclops came out. The Cyclops was a giant monster with one eye. The men watched as the monster let out his herd of sheep and then as he milked them. Odysseus and his crew were so hungry that they sneaked into the cave, trying not to get caught.  Unfortunately, the Cyclops returned and they were trapped in a corner.  After a while, the Cyclops spotted them. He shouted, "Who goes there?" 

Odysseus and his men remained silent. The Cyclops didn't care whether he knew who they were on not.  He took two of Odysseus' men, smashed their heads, tore them limb to limb, and then finally ate them. 
 

Odysseus said to his crew, "We have to make a plan to get out of here." His crew insisted, "He will eat us two by two until everybody is gone." 

Odysseus had kept on praying to Zeus, "Please get us out of here, Zeus." After a while, the gods started to fade. The men now had no advice or help from the gods. Odysseus always figured out things for himself, but now he thought he needed help from the gods. After a while, he thought of a plan. He would have to pick the men who could do his plan. They drew straws and the four strongest men were picked. The next day, the Cyclops ate two more of Odysseus' men. After his morning routines, the Cyclops got ready to leave the cave. Odysseus took several small sticks, which were part of the monster's bed. He braided them together, cut a point at the end, and burned the point it to make it hard. Odysseus took out some wine that he had been carrying with him and asked the Cyclops, "Would you like some wine?" Of course he accepted it. He tasted it and said, "This is fantastic! I make my own with my grapes, but this is much better than mine!" Odysseus replied, "Thank you." After a while, the Cyclops begged for more and got it. He got a little drunk. The Cyclops asked, "What is your name? Mine is Polyphemus." Odysseus replied, "Mine is Noman." Well, Noman," said Polyphemus, "I will give you a special reward since you gave me some of your wine. The reward I will give is that I will eat all of your friends but eat you last." After he said that, he rolled over and fell asleep.

Odysseus then called the chosen men. First he had them take the prepared weapon of braided, sharpened sticks and put it in the fire to start it burning.  One man said," The log is ready." Odysseus then said," Ready? Forward. Aim for the eye!"  They shoved the log into Polyphemus eye.

Polyphemus let out a loud roar that shook the cave and woke the neighbors, the other Cyclopses, who lived not far away. They raced to the cave and asked," Why did you wake us up so early? Is somebody killing you?" 

Polyohemus answered," It's Noman! Noman is killing me!"

"Well, if no man is killing you, then why did you wake us up at this ungodly hour? You should pray to the priest, Poseidon, go to sleep, and let the rest of us sleep."

The next day, Odysses got the ram, the biggest one of them all, and held on the bottom of it for dear life. Polyphemus let his sheep out, some with the sailors beneath, but stopped the big ram, the one Odysseus was on, and started to talk to it. "How come you are last this time? You are always the first one out. Are you seeing if my eye is okay?  If only you could talk, you would tell me where Noman is. Well, go ahead and go on."

Odysseus held on for a good distance, then dropped off onto the ground. He went to the other sheep, freed his crew and told them to take the sheep with them onto the boat. When they reached the ship, the rest of the crew were happy to see them. They got onto the boat and waited until they were fairly far out to sea.  Odysseus shouted out, " Hello, most excellent monster! Looks like your dessert got away. You also might want to know that my real name is Odysseus."

Polyphemus replied," So it is true. A wise man once said I would be defeated by a man named Odysseus but I didn't think that was you. I thought it would be someone my size, only stronger, but you are very small."  Polyphemus threw a boulder which almost hit them and did wash the ship back onto the beach.

Odysseus kept mocking the Cyclops. One of the crew members tried to stop him, but Odysseus just shoved him off. The crew said to him," You freed us with your cleverness, but don't kill us with your stupidity!" Odysseus did not listen to him and kept taunting the monster. There was a long silence, then Polyphemus prayed to Poseidon, "My father, lord of the seas, make sure you do not let this scoundrel make it safely home and if he does, make his life hopeless forever." He threw one last boulder, but it missed.

Later that night, Odysseus prayed to Zeus," Lord Zeus, I have done a foolish thing. I taunted Polyphemus, son of your brother Poseidon. He has set a curse on us. Can you save us?" There was no answer, so Odysseus sacrificed his ram to the greatest of all gods.  The result of that sacrifice was that Zeus helped Odyssesus eventually return safely to his home.