Week 3 Story: The Loss of Two Sons
Once, there was a Cyclops named Polyphemus who lived on an
island with all his kin. The cyclops people were peaceful and humble farmers
and ranchers. Their way of life was dependent on trade and everyone doing their
own tasks and then exchanging the goods. One day a group of humans came to his
shores. The cyclops, though towering over the humans in stature, were fearful
for the humans brought with them weapons of war. Hiding in the woods, Polyphemus’
two sons saw the men come ashore with plans to raid the villages of any who
lived there. Upon learning this, they quietly returned to their father. “Father!
Father!” the older one cried out, “there are men on our shores and they bring
many weapons” the younger added on.
“Men have come to our shore before, they often wish to
trade, no fear my sons perhaps they too are peaceful” Polyphemus said to calm
his sons. But the oldest son was unsure, and did not trust the men who brought
such dangerous weapons to his homeland. “Father, these men are different! I
could feel their blood lust coming from the beach we must fight them”, the
oldest pleaded. “No, we shall not go after them unless they truly mean us harm”.
Angrily, the oldest son walked out of the house. Worried, the younger brother
followed his brother out to calm him. “Father doesn’t understand, he did not
see those men nor hear their words, we must stop them before they find our
village” the oldest said to his younger brother. “We leave tonight while
everyone’s asleep we will go down and kill the men before they can harm our
family”.
That night, the two brothers snuck into the humans camp to
attempt to kill the leader, the one they heard others call Odysseus. However,
little did they know, the humans were expecting the brothers that night, for
the brothers had snuck into a camp with no one in it, while the humans circled
their own camp. Once the brothers were in the camp, the brothers were ambushed
by the men. Woken by the screams of his sons, the father left the home to see a
giant fire coming from the beach. He rushed down to the beach searching for his
sons only to find the oldest wounded on the beach with a sword in his chest. “No,
where is your brother” Polyphemus asked, weeping at the sight of his oldest
son dying in his arms. “They, they took him father…..” the son said. “Who took
him” the father yelled. “They called him…..Odysseus” the son said with his last
breath. And the father wept at the loss of his sons and their foolishness.
Cyclops V. Odysseus
Author's Note: I wanted to adjust the story into a form of tragedy, making the hero of the original epic the villain and vice versa. While there was no telling how many cyclops lived on the island, I wanted to talk about the potential daily life they could have had on the island and as I said, make Odysseus the villain.
Bibliography: Homer's Odyssey Translated into English by Tony Kline: Online Source
I was so surprised at the outcome of this story! While reading, I honestly thought their feelings of worry and unease would be beneficial because they would be prepared to fight if needed. Instead, their worry turned into foolishness and one was taken and the other ended up dead. I guess the title gives it away, but I didn't acknowledge that until after. (Oops) If the sons had not tried to invade the camp, do you think the men would still have been malicious with the intent to kill the cyclops? Also, were there many cyclops on the island, or just the one small family?
ReplyDeleteYou could maybe make the story more dramatic going into detail about the fight between the men and the cyclops brothers. Or even making a full battle ensue with more of the cyclops fighting. I still like that you had the sons die because their father warned them, and they had to learn their lesson the hard way.