"‘Do not,’ they
exclaimed, ‘be mad enough to provoke this savage creature
further; he has thrown one rock at us already which drove us back
again to the mainland, and we made sure it had been the death of us;
if he had then heard any further sound of voices he would have
pounded our heads and our ship's timbers into a jelly with the
rugged rocks he would have heaved at us, for he can throw them a long
way.’
"But I would not listen to them,
and shouted out to him in my rage, ‘Cyclops, if any one asks you
who it was that put your eye out and spoiled your beauty, say it was
the valiant warrior Odysseus, son of Laertes, who lives in
Ithaca.’
"On this he groaned, and cried
out, ‘Alas, alas, then the old prophecy about me is coming true.
There was a seer [mantis] here, at one time, a man
both brave and of great stature, Telemos son of Eurymos, who was an
excellent seer, and did all the prophesying for the Cyclopes till he
grew old; he told me that all this would happen to me some day, and
said I should lose my sight by the hand of Odysseus. I have been all
along expecting some one of imposing presence and superhuman
strength, whereas he turns out to be a little insignificant weakling,
who has managed to blind my eye by taking advantage of me in my
drink; come here, then, Odysseus, that I may make you presents to
show my hospitality, and urge Poseidon to help you forward on your
journey - for Poseidon and I are father and son. He, if he so will,
shall heal me, which no one else neither god nor man can
do.’
"Then I said, ‘I wish I
could be as sure of killing you outright and sending you down, bereft
of your psukhê, to the house of Hades, as I am that it
will take more than Poseidon to cure that eye of
yours.’
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