As the Greek cosmogonists of yore inform us,
The birth of the Universe began with the Chaos.
Out of the Chaos were born Gaeae and Uranus.
In that chaotic world, the laws were rather lax,
So, Gaeae, the Earth married the sky, Uranus.
(In modern sense, their union was incestuous!)
Together, they begot the Cyclopes and Titans
And some ugly-looking and huge Hecatonchires.
Uranus, peeved about his children’s appearance,
Stowed away those Hecatonchires and Cyclopes
Into the Tartarus and ate up a number of Titans
As soon as they were born. He, alas, didn’t bother
To know how his brutality would pain the mother.
The earth mother Gaeae was predictably outraged
To see helplessly her begotten children so savaged.
So, she conspired with Cronus, her youngest son,
To enfeeble Uranus through sexual emasculation,
Thereby teaching her uncaring husband a lesson
Once when Uranus was getting on bed with Gaeae,
Cronus cut off his manhood and threw it into the sea.
Then Cronus married his sister Rhea, and liberated
His siblings, Titans and Hecatonchires, from captivity.
But he did not liberate the Cyclopes, for he also hated
Them just like his father, for their physical deformity.
They lived happily till Rhea discovered to her horror,
That Cronus, in brutality, was no better than his father.
Fearing lest his children should surpass him in power,
He gobbled them up whole as a preventive measure.
It is, however, difficult to obtain figures by guesswork
About the width of his gullet or the size of his stomach.
Rhea sought the help of Gaeae who could understand
How painful it was to have a child-devouring husband.
Led by Gaeae, she took her son Zeus to Crete and hid
Him in Mt. Ida. There, Zeus grew up and made his bid
For authority, and removed his father from the throne
And forced him to vomit up his five babies one by one.
The children who were disgorged by Cronus his father:
Were Hestia, Hades, Poseidon, Hera and Demeter.
Thus began the rule of Zeus and other Olympians.
Then Zeus liberated the Cyclopes from the Tartarus.
The Cyclopes were creatures of great size and might,
And known for the placement of their sense of sight.
Each Cyclops had only one eye, large, round and red,
And was vertically fixed in the centre of his forehead.
Vulcan, the divine blacksmith, the limping god of fire
Liked them and made good use of their unique power.
When he was at his big furnace, fashioning hardware,
And another would deal mighty strokes with a hammer.
The job of using the hammer needed full concentration
That the Cyclopes achieved with their undivided vision.
In course of time, their tribe grew and disintegrated,
And settled in different places. One group migrated
To the south-western coast of Sicily and did settle
There, with their flocks of sheep and herds of cattle.
They lived in caves and got used to rustic existence.
They were omnivorous, lacking in human kindness.
Like a mob of gigantic devils broken loose from hell
They killed and ate any animal or man they did spy
And they were able to spy distant things very well
Due to their big height and the location of their eye.
One horde settled in an island in the Mediterranean
And tended live-stock and stayed in the subterranean
Caves. The leader of the tribe was named Polyphemus,
The son of Poseidon and a female Cyclops Amphitrite.
Like the rest of his tribe, he used to graze his animals
All day long and herd them into his cavern at twilight.
One evening he returned as usual, and, to his pleasure,
He saw some eatable men loitering near his cave-door.
“I’m hungry! What a treat!” he said in a good humour.
Then he ate up one and singled out another for supper.
It’s high time we told you something about Odysseus
Who could make good his escape from Polyphemus.
Of all the Greek potentates who sailed to Troy,
Fought for ten years and brought about its fall,
Odysseus was not only the wisest and wiliest guy,
But also was one of the bravest heroes of them all.
He drew a wrestling match with huge-limbed Ajax
And also beat him at a sprint in the friendly sports.
Adjudged the best, he received the arms of Achilles.
He was a rare hero who, like Hercules and Theseus,
By his physical prowess, could overpower Cerberus.
He entered the Hades to consult prophet Tieresias
About the nature of events that would come to pass.
Circe kept him for one year; Calypso for seven years
And finally she released him at the command of Zeus.
Great misfortunes he suffered in the hand of Poseidon.
The cause of Poseidon’s anger will be shortly known.
Though some lesser scribes have maligned Odysseus
By calling him a shrewd conjuror of words and a fox,
He was a favourite of Pallas Athena and Shakespeare.
Poet Homer devoted an epic to the journey of this hero.
One of the finest novelists of modern era, James Joyce,
Saw a symbolic message in Ulysses’ homeward voyage.
He was down innumerable times, but he was never out;
Though he played a couple of tricks, he was ever devout.
He lived his life and carried it off earnestly and famously.
As friends or as sworn foes, the gods took him seriously.
After sacking Troy, the kings who had joined their force
With king Agamemnon and Helen’s husband Menelaus,
Collected the survivors of their troop, captives and loot
And headed towards home by sea, or by the land route.
Odysseus and his men set their sails and pulled the oars;
They were homesick and eager to see the Ithacan shores.
After ten years of separation, he nurtured just one hope:
To be reunited with son Telemachus and wife Penelope.
While voyaging, they found their provisions run down;
So they were forced to pillage Ismarus, a coastal town,
But spared Apollo’s temple. So priest Maron sent a fine
Gift to them: twelve jars full of fragrant vintage wine.
Anon they encountered a sea-storm; tried to withstand,
But couldn’t; their old ships were driven helter-skelter.
One morning, the sailors chanced upon a virgin island.
They cast anchors quickly and camped on the shore.
The inhabitants of that land were called lotus-eaters.
The lotus fruits they ate turned them into dreamers.
The unsuspecting sailors who strayed into that place,
Found there that fruit; it was available in abundance.
Then they gorged on that fruit, and that did the magic.
Its impact on the eaters’ psyche was hallucinogenic.
Once they ate it, they began to laze, forgot their duty,
Recoiled from all types of activity; attained tranquility.
They were possessed with a feeling of buoyant elation,
A sense of perfect well-being, a feather-soft lassitude,
A quiet and cosy withdrawal, a total self-absorption,
And an all’s-well-with-the-world -don’t-worry attitude.
Previously some old sailors had forewarned Odysseus
To keep away from the magic land of the lotus-eaters.
By the time he realized that he had committed an error
By allowing his sailors to cast anchor near that shore,
It was already too late. Odysseus could see helplessly
Some of his sailors gorging on that lotus fruit greedily.
He ran to them and shouted his warning: “O comrades,
This land of the lotus-eaters is far worse than the Hades.
In the name of Athena, don’t eat those dangerous fruits!
They’ll make you forget your nature, mission and roots.”
But the sailors who had already helped themselves on
The lotus fruit were already in the grip of hallucination.
They guffawed heartily as if Odysseus cracked a joke.
“Old chap,” they said: “Leave us alone. We are in luck.
This missions and roots stuff is baloney and baby talk.
We’re living in the best of all possible worlds; we lack
Nothing in this place; nor do we want anything more.
Now, boss, please eat this fruit and forget your care.”
Odysseus was not amused. He got them all hauled up
To their ships and secured them to the masts with rope.
After voyaging several months on the vast azure seas,
They sighted an island covered with lush green trees.
They thought it proper to make a brief stopover there
To collect food and furnish their pots with fresh water.
Odysseus picked up twelve men and set off to explore
The strange island and to locate a fountain or a boar.
They moved deep into the island, didn’t meet a man,
But saw a clearing in front of a subterranean cavern.
Inside that cave they saw kids and lambs newly born,
Huge baskets of dry meat and chunks of goat cheese,
And they quickly helped themselves with great relish.
They wondered who could be the owner of that place.
They hoped to meet a shepherd and his shepherdess.
By and by, twilight deepened, and they could hear
The roar of some animal that sounded like thunder,
And the bleating and bellowing of sheep and kine.
Then they saw a giant herding animals coming near.
He was a massive primate holding an uprooted pine.
Some drew their swords, primed for a confrontation,
But Odysseus advised: “We can’t beat this apparition.
Look here, he can easily trample down a full battalion.
Let’s know whether he is a friendly or hostile person.”
Polyphemus drew near his cavern and was amused
To find those humans, and said: “That’s just dandy!”
He picked up one of them, a hefty one, and chewed
Him up, as a boy eats a stick of puffed cotton candy.
Then he picked up the stoutest sailor from the group
And said darkly: “Ha, his flanks will make a fine soup
And his brains a fine dessert. Truly, I am not a glutton.
As I haven’t had human meat for long, I ate up that one.
Once in a blue moon I get humans. So I’ll take no more
Than one at a time. You eat my cheese, get fat, feel free
And wait your turn. But never try to run away from here.
If you do, I warn you, men, none will be worse than me.
If you irk me, I shall go back on my present decisions.”
Then he roughly shoved Odysseus and his companions
Into a narrow-mouthed cavern along with his live-stock
And closed the cavern’s door with a big and heavy rock.
The light in the interior of that cavern was rather dim.
As the giant lay down to sleep, Odysseus went to him
And said politely: “Friend, after tending sheep and kine
You must be tired. Would you like to drink some wine?
A priest of Apollo has given us this jar of wine as a gift.
We would not mind at all if you drink up the whole of it.”
The Cyclops peered at the man, couldn’t see him clearly;
But he liked his suggestion and thanked him profusely.
“I am Polyphemus,” he said: “What’s thy name, buddy?”
“I am a Thessalian by birth, ” said Odysseus, amicably:
“I am a mariner by profession, and my name is Nobody.”
Polyphemus drank the whole jar of fragrant red wine,
Felt well-disposed to Nobody, and said: “You’re a fine
Person. I killed your mate; still, you behave as a friend;
So, I’ll return your good offices by eating you at the end.
By Poseidon, Nobody, I’ve never heard a name like that.
Odysseus
You look quite well-made, but, alas, you are not very fat.
If you like, you accompany me tomorrow to the pasture
Where I graze my animals. Milk will make you stouter.”
Then he wolfed down one more of Odysseus’s fellows,
Fell fast asleep, and soon started snoring like a bellows.
Odysseus made a campfire in one corner of the cave;
He was determined to take a great risk in order to save
Himself and his fellows. He heated his sword in the fire
And gouged out the single eye of the sleeping monster.
The blinded Cyclops howled loudly and groped around
And hollered: “Nobody has blinded me! Nobody is here!”
Some Cyclopes came near the cave hearing his sound;
But when they made out clearly what he was shouting,
They felt relieved and thought Polyphemus was joking:
“If nobody blinded him, why on earth is he hollering?”
The cave was spacious, crowded with sheep and cows;
To catch his enemies he had to scour about and grope-
Sozzled, maddened with pain- to get even with his foes.
But his foes kept dodging him, playing blind man’s buff.
He could not catch his foes, and so became very glum,
And thought: “I trusted Nobody, and this is the outcome.
The rogue enticed me into drink, and I called him buddy!
And then he betrayed me; I must catch hold of Nobody.”
He vowed not to trust again that sly creature called man.
What a terrible price he had to pay to learn this lesson!
In the morning, Polyphemus hit upon a workable plan:
To destroy his mutilators through thirst and starvation.
He stood astride at the cave’s entrance and tried to feel
All animals with his hands, so that the men did not steal
Out of the cave and escape. Resourceful Odysseus gave
Advice to his men to hang on to sheep’s bellies to save
Their life. He himself hung on to a sheep by holding on
To its wool and with trepidation, came out of the cavern.
One after another, all his sheep and cows came out.
Though unable to see, Polyphemus was able to count
His animals. He plugged the cave-door with that rock.
Then he realized that he could no longer tend his flock,
As he had already lost his most useful organ, his eye.
He couldn’t know what to do, and felt a desire to cry.
But instead of crying, he wanted to vent out his anger
And, standing near the cave-door, he began to roar:
“Hey Nobody, O Thessalian punks, you disabled me,
Now no power on earth or in heaven can set you free.
I’ll be avenged. I’ll spend many nights under the sky.
Inside the cave, hungry and thirsty, you’ll slowly die.
You may not live that long. I may call a friend or two
Who’ll do to you, rogues, what I’m now unable to do. ”
Odysseus heard his threats, and he felt really sorry
For the giant, for having reduced him to such misery.
When in a perilous situation, he had to come out of it
Either by dint of his courage and ability, or by deceit.
Calamity averted, he and his companions noiselessly
Walked to their anchored fleet and sailed immediately.
When Odysseus knew that he was at a safe distance,
He loudly and vainly declared himself to Polyphemus:
“O Polyphemus, we cheated you out of your pleasure
To feast on us or make us perish in thirst and hunger.”
That was a piece of blustering, but to no purpose;
It only invited disasters, and made matters worse.
Those words further enraged the blinded monster,
And he grabbled for, found and held a big boulder
And, with full force, hurled it at the hated speaker.
Fortunately it missed Odysseus’s ship by a whisker.
Again defeated, the giant invoked his sire Poseidon
And asked him to avenge his son’s unjust mutilation.
Poseidon heard his prayer and set many an obstacle
For Odysseus and his men; he was worn to a frazzle.
Besieged by calamities, he lost his ships, his sailors
In the course of his journey that lasted full ten years.
Finally, dispossessed, drained off, dressed in tatters,
But still undaunted, he arrived at the Ithacan shores.
*********
