When Polyphemus returns, Odysseus gets him drunk on wine that he brought along from the ship. Polyphemus collapses with intoxication, and Odysseus and a select group of his men drive the red-hot staff into his eye. Polyphemus wakes with a shriek. When morning comes, Odysseus and his men escape from the cave, unseen by the blind Polyphemus, by clinging to the bellies of the monster’s sheep as they go out to graze.
