A/N: My English class was assigned the task of writing the story of Odysseus and the Cyclops from the Odyssey, from Polyphemus' perspective. It was meant to be no more than eight paragraphs, hence the shortness of this piece. I like it despite it's length however, and decided to upload it.
The young maiden Dawn arose each morn, rose-colored fingertips brushing to tint the sky red. It was a simple existence, day to day on the island of our origin. We Cyclopes are not naturally magnanimous, nor are we amicable. Though we share the isle, as is our birthright, we do not often spend precious moments of our lives associating with one another. No self-respecting cyclops would admit to the loneliness of our way of life. I do of course, have the sheep. I raised each from a lamb and reared them by hand. It is the same hand which will eventually slaughter them. I know the ewes and goats inhabiting my homestead as well as I know myself. In some ironic twist, the fates insisted my beloved flock would aid in the escape of my prophesized enemy…
It began on a day as dull and monotonous as the rest, when I trekked home to my resting caverns after a morning in the fields with my herd. Shoving the massive stone slab I used for privacy to the side, I failed to notice at first what was amiss. Throwing down my load of logs and finishing my pre-supper chores, I at last sensed something wrong. Setting down racks to press for cheese, not all was as I had left it. It was then I spotted them. A group of measly, pathetic mortal men had crawled about and clamored amongst my personal earnings and stuffed their thieving, greedy faces with the cheeses I had crafted and the butters I had churned. How dare they trespass on my grounds!
"Strangers! Now who are you?" I questioned, raising my voice to a threatening volume. Their miniscule leader proceeded to weave some sob story about Troy and how they were now looking to appeal to a "merciful", "hospitable" side of me. What nonsense and arrogance! They have broken into my home and now expect me to treat them as honored, respected guests?!
"Stranger, you must be a fool! Where is your ship moored?" In my impatience, I was not impressed with the man's answer.
"It was smashed by Poseidon, good host." The man had the audacity to "compliment" me in his mockery… Well, I was in a rightfully foul mood then, and snatched up two of his wayward companions, bashing their skulls together and stuffing my jaws with each. Guzzling down the mouthful, I felt my eye glinting with absolute mirth at the visage of shock and horror sprawled across their grotesque little faces. Sloshing it back with the milk I had collected from my ewes I decided to retire for the night and enjoy torturing these foolish victims again on Dawn's next waking breath. They could not escape, and knew this too.
It was the next day, when I had consumed another pair, that the bearded worm approached me to appeal his worthless life with fine wine. I heartily drank, accepting two more bowls of the intoxicating liquid.
"Stranger, what is your name?" I inquired, delighting in the sweet taste on my lips.
"I am Nobody." He replied. As I pondered how much his parents must've loathed him at birth, my senses dulled and slowed significantly, effectively bringing my motor skills to a halt. I struggled to remain aware of what was happening. The hot, bubbling chunks of flesh and acid rose in my esophagus quicker then I'd anticipated, and as the regurgitated meal spewed forth, coating and dripping down my front, I lost consciousness. What brought me back from my inebriated stupor? A blinding, white hot agony pierced through me in a sudden moment, and I let lose a shriek of pure anguish as the immensity of the pain shrouded my vision in darkness.
"AHHHHH! HUMAN SCUM!" Boiling, sticky crimson fluids gushed from the excruciating entrance wound in my eye. I could smell it, the coppery aroma mixing with my despair and overwhelming me to the brink of exhaustion.
"Polyphemus? What is the matter, great brute? Is anyone hurting you? Why have we been roused from our slumber?" My neighbors cries echoed beneath my screeches from outside the hollowed cave.
"NOBODY, FRIENDS! NOBODY IS KILLING ME NOW BY FRAUD AND NOT BY FORCE!" I clutched my miserable face, gasping for air. Crumpling to my knees I looked this way and that, but found I could see no friends coming to assist me. In fact, I could see nothing at all.
"Nobody? It must be a plague. Sorry ill friend, it cannot be helped." The disgraces turned back to tuck up in their dens and left me alone to simmer in the ashes. I waited by that slab for those disgusting, vile creatures to move so I could persecute them, however, Dawn came to rise again and alone I remained. What was the life of a cyclops worth if he could not even deal back the blows of thieves?
I let the flock out to graze their fill, feeling around the backs of each in a vain search for the cowards, yet turned up none.
"Dear old ram, why last of the flock to quit the cave?" I lamented to my prize of the group, sighing as he too followed the others out to pasture. Not only was my sight forever lost, but my pride as well. It was a while later, when the winds carried on the taunts of a shameless bastard, I felt wrath simmering in my blood.
"You cannibal! You with your brute force- may the gods pay you back!" With a vigorous shout I hefted a boulder and sent it hurtling their direction, hoping it would crush those spineless weaklings once and for all. It was not so, as a moment later, I heard him again.
"Cyclops, if anyone ventures to question who gauged out your eye, tell them it was Odysseus, raider of cities!" Oh no, oh gods no… I pulled from the depths of my memory a prophecy of how a villain by the name of Odysseus would come to be my foe. I had not expected such a dwarf…
"Odysseus, raider of cities eh? You want a gift do you? How about I pray to my sire the earth-shaker to reimburse you handsomely then? He could heal me so, if he chose. May you never reach your homeland Odysseus, and if you do, may you return a broken man with trouble on the front!" Hate fueling me, I mustered determination in my mind and gathered more and more tormenting requests as I went, nearly begging my father Poseidon to carry out the pleas. This repulsive grub had besmirched my esteem. I was not about to let him escape with impunity.