Trrusha Jariwalla ‘22 “My ship? Poseidon Lord, who sets the earth a-tremble, broke it up on the rocks at your land’s end. A wind from seaward served him, drove us there. We are survivors, these good men and I.” * I will not give them pity, but rather leave them to my wrath. How dare they call themselves “survivors” at the graciousness of my father, Poseidon? He did the seas a favor, taking their ship from the wine dark sea. It seems to me a sign. He sent them to me to terminate them; this outspoken man and his crew. I easily clutched his companions, catching two in my hands. Beating their brains out and munching them whole, I finish every piece. The other powerless men cry, lifting their hands to Zeus. My belly is filled, however, with the sweet taste of man. I know they cannot do anything to me, a strong creature, so I will take rest now, leaving them groaning and apprehensive of what is to come the next morning. The next morning, after downing some four bowls of wine, I ask the outspoken man what he is called. I may give the stranger a gift with which he will be pleased, little did he know what my present was: “Tell me, how are you called? I’ll make a gift will please you.” “Kyklops, you ask my my honorable name? Remember, the gift you promised me, and I shall tell you. My name is Nohbdy: mother, father, and friends, everyone calls me Nohbdy.” Ruthlessly, I reply: “Nohbdy’s my meat, then, after I eat his friends. Other come first. There’s a noble gift, now.”
Avni Sharma ‘25
He said I must promise him the gift and I did. Bad choice on Nohbdy’s part. Promising to something he doesn’t know of. It seems odd for a man’s name to be Nohbdy; however, I will go with it. It’s not like he will make his way out of the cave. He’ll be a nohbdy after all.
Suddenly, I felt a sharp pain in my eye. My eye! My only eye! He’d used a pike of olive. Nohbdy drew it from the coals and his four minions gave him assistance. Nohbdy proceeded: “ . . . leaned on it turning it as a shipwright turns a drill in planking, having men below to swing the two-handled strap that spins it in the groove.” I was too drowsy to notice what was going to happen when he reached in the fire. I was drowsy...from the bowls of drink he gave me earlier! That ruthless Nohbdy! The pain in my one precious eye felt like a baby being torn from its mother and thrown to its death; however, for me, my baby is my eye and I will truly never see again. I yelled for aid from my fellow Kyklôpes: “Nohbdy, Nohbdy’s tricked me, Nohbdy’s ruined me!” They replied: “Ah well, if nobody has played you foul there in your lonely bed, we are no use in pain given by great Zeus. Let it be your father, Poseidon Lord, to whom you pray.” My fellow brothers do not understand that Nohbdy is inside my cave! They think it is truly nobody! Nohbdy. He has tricked me by telling me his name is Nohbdy. Has he no mercy? I hear faintly, as my neighboring Kyklôpes walked away, hefty laughter. It has to be Nohbdy! He thinks the charm of his name has duped everyone. He thinks he is a great tactician! Nohbdy has blinded me, making me into a nobody. I can’t be a Kyklôpes without my one eye! Maybe I shouldn’t have treated him like a nobody. His laughter and arrogance make me feel like an ignorant beast! *for these perspective pieces all direct quotes from The Odyssey by Homer, translated by Robert Fitzgerald, are in italics