Based on his response to the Cyclops, what can be inferred about Odysseus?

In the ninth book of Homer's Odyssey, Odysseus tells the Cyclops that his name is Noman. 

‘Cyclops, you ask my name and I will tell it you; give me, therefore, the present you promised me; my name is Noman; this is what my father and mother and my friends have always called me.’

This is an example of the keen intelligence for which Odysseus was noted. It was Odysseus who reputedly thought of the...

In the ninth book of Homer's Odyssey, Odysseus tells the Cyclops that his name is Noman. 

‘Cyclops, you ask my name and I will tell it you; give me, therefore, the present you promised me; my name is Noman; this is what my father and mother and my friends have always called me.’

This is an example of the keen intelligence for which Odysseus was noted. It was Odysseus who reputedly thought of the idea of building a wooden horse to enable some Greek soldiers to get inside Troy and open the gates for the entire army. This led to victory in the Trojan War after many years of siege. Odysseus knows he cannot trust Cyclops and that his life as well as the lives of all his followers are in extreme danger. He actually has the foresight to anticipate that Polyphemus will be calling his fellow Cyclopes for help after he had blinded him. This turns out to be the case, but when the other one-eyed giants ask what is troubling him, Cyclops shows he has fallen for Odysseus' trick.

“But Polyphemus shouted to them from inside the cave, ‘Noman is killing me by fraud; no man is killing me by force.’"

Because the blinded Polyphemus is left to deal with Odysseus and his men all by himself, most of them manage to escape from his cave. So Odysseus not only had the intelligence to get Polyphemus drunk and to put out his single eye with a heated stake, but he also had the foresight to realize that Polyphemus would asks the other one-eyed giants to help him and that he would have to find some way to escape from the cave when the only exit was blocked by an huge boulder. Odysseus knows that the giant will have to remove the boulder next morning to let his sheep out. He thinks of the ploy of having his men get out with the sheep by hiding them underneath the enormous sheep.

"There was to be a man under the middle sheep, and the two on either side were to cover him, so that there were three sheep to each man. As for myself there was a ram finer than any of the others, so I caught hold of him by the back, ensconced myself in the thick wool under his belly, and hung on patiently to his fleece, face upwards, keeping a firm hold on it all the time."

The blind giant felt each sheep as it passed outside, but he did not touch any of the men, including Odysseus, who were clinging to the thick wool underneath the animals. In addition to displaying Odysseus' cunning and foresight, the episode exemplifies his great courage.