Still in the presence of Alkinoos and his advisors, I began to give them information about myself and how I arrived on their land and why I was there. Then, I started talking to the group about the tale of my wanderings. First I told them of my journey to Ismarus which is the city of the Cicones. We became carried away by greed, and the Cicones turned and attacked us. We finally escaped, but we lost six men per ship. How depressed this made us feel! Then, Zeus sent a storm and we sailed for nine days before we arrived on the land of the Lotus- eaters. Here, the natives gave us the intoxicating fruit of the Lotus. This fruit made my men lose the thought of home and long for nothing more than the fruit that they were eating. I had to literally drag my men back to the ship and lock them up, so that we could leave the island. Then, we sailed to the land of the Cyclopes, which is a very rough and dangerous place. We then wandered into a cave filled with fine delicious cheeses, crates of milk and herds of sheep. We decided to linger in the cave and not to take the food and return to the ship. The cave's inhabitant soon returned. He was the Cyclops Polyphemus and the son of Posiedon. First, he was very warm and inviting, but then he turned hostile and devoured two members of my crew! To make matters worse, he then imprisoned us to keep for future meals. At first, I wanted to stab and kill him in his sleep, but then I believed that he was the only one who could move open the massive rock to the outside world. I then devised a plan. When Polyphemus was outside of the cave pasturing his sheep, I found a wooden staff and hardened it in the fire. When Polyphemus returned, I got him drunk on the wine from the ship, and when asked my name, I told him my name was "nobody". When he collapsed from becoming drunk, my men and I drove the newly crafted spear into his eye. What a ghastly sight! Then when Polyphemus woke up, he called to his neighbors and said " nobody's killing him", so the neighbors thought he was all right and go back to their caves. The next morning, we escaped from the cave by clinging to the bellies of the monster's sheep as they go out to graze. Then on the ship sailing away, I called back to the giant and told him my real name. In anger, he prayed to his father, Posiedon, calling for a retaliation on Odysseus. Survival requires resourcefulness, creativity, determination and always the element of luck.
