Monday, June 9, 2014

Please give a paragraph for each of the stories: The Cyclops and The Sirens, paraphrasing the stories.

In Episode IX of The Odyssey,
Odysseus and his men reach the Island of the Cyclopses.  The men enter the cave of
Polyphemus, who rolls a boulder to cover the exit.  Odysseus and the men expect to be
treated as guests, but Polyphemus says that he has no law and does not honor Greek
customs.  The giant proceeds to eat many men before Odysseus, telling him his name is
"No Man," conceives a plan to get him intoxicated with wine.  After Polyphemus falls
asleep, the men sharpen a large stake and bore into his one eye.  Blinded, the giant
moves the boulder to call to his brothers, "No Man has blinded me!"  Meanwhile the men
tie themselves under the giant's sheep to escape.  Once outside, Odysseus makes the
mistake of revealing his name to Polyphemus, who calls Poseidon, his father, to avenge
him and punish Odysseus of Ithaca.


In Episode XII, Odysseus
is told that he must sail past the Sirens, sea nymphs whose haunting songs promise
infinite knowledge, but they are a trap to lure men to their deaths.  Odysseus tells him
men to put wax in their ears and tie him to the mast of the ship.  Then men obey, and
Odysseus weeps and cries to home when he hears their enchanting melodies.  His fate is
to hear their song so that he will long for Ithaca.

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