No Man Games

In book 9 of the Odyssey, we find Odysseus and his men trapped in the cave of the Kyklops Polyphemus, one of the many one-eyed giants that populate the island, tending to their sheep and living in caves.

Odysseus and his men try convince Polyphemus to let them free but Polyphemus will hear none of it and continues to feast daily on the men, taking one or two at time, ripping them apart, and washing them down with milk from his sheep. They are unwilling to kill Polyphemus because he seals his cave with a giant boulder that Odysseus knows they would not be able to move. So they device a plan and begin surreptitiously sharpening a large stake.

One day, the monster demands Odysseus' name. Odysseus tells him his name is Outis: Nobody, no one, or no man in ancient greek.

The next evening, Odysseus offers Polyphemus several bowls full of sweet red wine, which the monster drinks to the last drop until it drunkenly passes out.

Odysseus and several of his men take the stake they've sharpened to a fearsome point, harden it in the burning fire, and drive it into the monster eye, there turning it, over and over, like a drill, and singieing his lids and eyebrow.

The screams and cries of the injured and blind Polyphemus draws the attention of the other Kyklopses, who gather outside his cave and ask him who is hurting him. Polyphemus screams back "Outis is murdering me!" Presuming he is in no danger, and possibly just suffering from some illness, the monsters tell him to pray to Poseidon, their god, for healing, and go back to their caves.

The next day, the blind monster opens the cave to let his flock out to pasture, and Odysseus, and what's left of the men Polyphemus hasn't eaten, make their escape strapped to the bellies of the sheep as they rush out of the cave.