Like pebbles stuck in the suckers of some octopus
dragged from its lair – so strips of skin torn
from his clawing hands stuck to the rock face.
– Homer
The Odyssey, Book 5, lines 476-478. Odysseus is scraped by the rocks on the Phaeacian shore. In an epic simile, we are told how his skin sticks to the rocks just like pebbles stick in the suckers of an octopus.