3–1
Cyclops
I took that away myself, so as to catch him as he went out. I sat down in the doorway, and felt about for him with my hands. I just let the sheep go out to pasture, and told the ram everything I wanted done.
Posidon
Ah! and they slipped out under the sheep? But you should have set the other Cyclopes on to him.
Cyclops
I did call them, and they came: but when they asked me who it was that was playing tricks with me, I said ‘Noman’; and then they thought I was mad, and went off home again. The villain! that name of his was just a trick! And what I minded most was the way in which he made game of my misfortune: ‘Not even Papa can put this right,’ he said.
Posidon
Never mind, my boy; I will be even with him. I may not be able to cure blindness, but he shall know that I have something to say to mariners. He is not home yet.
What is the meaning of this, Alpheus? unlike others, when you take your plunge you do not mingle with the brine as a river should; you do not put an end to your labours by dispersing; you hold together through the sea, keep your current fresh, and hurry along in all your original purity; you dive down to strange depths like a gull or a heron; I suppose you will come to the top again and show yourself somewhere or other.
Alpheus
Do not press me, Posidon; a love affair; and many is the time you have been in love yourself.
Posidon
Woman, nymph, or Nereid?
Alpheus
All wrong; she is a fountain.
Posidon
A fountain? and where does she flow?
5
Alpheus
She is an islander—in Sicily. Her name is Arethusa,
