asked Ulysses if any plan occurred to him by which they could subdue the
Trojans through strategy. Ulysses unfolded a plan to the generals, and
what it was and how it succeeded is one of the strangest stories of all
warfare. Acting upon his advice, the Greeks made preparation to abandon
the war. Their ships that had waited with folded sails in the harbor,
now drew anchor and sailed swiftly away, taking refuge behind a
neighboring island. And the Trojans, seeing the encampment before their
walls broken for the first time in so many years, and the plain that
the enemy's tents had whitened clear, broke into joy and merrymaking
such as they had not known for so long. They forgot caution and opened
the gates through which the men and women and children flocked out to
the plain to make merry and exult over the defeat of the Greeks.
There they saw an astounding thing. In the centre of the plain stood a
great wooden image of a horse, like an idol, more prodigious than any
which the Trojans had ever seen. It was so closely fitted and carved
from its mammoth hoofs to its head that no one could detect the joining.
A hundred men could have ridden the horse with room for more, but they
would never have been able to climb up to its back. At first the people
of Troy, gathering around the wooden horse, were afraid of it. Then they
made up their minds about it.
"This is a trophy of war!" they exclaimed, and they were for moving it
into the city to exhibit in the public square as a sign of their victory
over the Greeks.
There was among them, though, a man named Laocoon, a priest of Neptune,
who objected to this plan.
"Beware, men of Troy!" Laocoon warned them. "You have fought for ten
years with the Greeks and know that they do not give up a fight as
easily as this. How do you know but that this is a piece of trickery on
the part of their dauntless leader, Ulysses? I fear the Greeks, even
when they bring us gifts."
As Laocoon uttered these prophetic words, he threw his lance at the side
of the wooden horse and it rebounded with a hollow sound. At that,
perhaps the Trojans might have taken his advice and destroyed the horse
there where it stood, but suddenly a man, who appeared to be a prisoner
and a Greek, was dragged out from the crowd.
He said that he was a Greek, Sinon by name, who had brought upon himself
the malice of Ulysses and so had been left behind by the Greeks. He
feigned terror, and the Trojans, falling into the trap, reassured Sinon,
the spy, and told him that his life would be spared if he would disclose
to the chiefs of Troy the secret of the wooden horse.
"It is an offering to Minerva," Sinon explained. "The Greeks made it so
huge in order that you would never be able to carry it inside the gates
of Troy."
Sinon's words turned the tides of the people's feelings. They were just
planning how they might best start the work of moving the giant horse
when something happened which completely reassured them. Two immense
serpents appeared advancing directly toward them over the sea. Side by
side they moved toward the shore, their great heads erect, their burning
eyes full of blood and fire and licking their hissing mouths with their
quivering tongues. And these serpents came directly to the spot where
Laocoon stood with his two sons.
They attacked the boys first, winding round their bodies and breathing
their poisonous breath into their faces. Laocoon, trying to rescue his
sons, was drawn into the serpent's coils and all three were strangled.
Then the creatures moved on, threatening to glide into the city of Troy.
"It is an omen of the displeasure of the gods with us for having even
doubted the sacred character of the wooden horse," the Trojans said.
"Laocoon has been punished for his lack of reverence in despising it."
So they gave themselves up again to wild joy and reckless merrymaking.
They wreathed the horse with garlands of flowers and dragged it, all
lending a hand, across the plain and close to the gates of the city so
that they could widen them in the morning and push it through; and they
went home with great shouts like those of a victoriously returning army.
That night a door, cunningly set and concealed in the side of the wooden
horse, was opened by Sinon, the spy. Out of the door came the hero
Ulysses, King Menelaus, and a band of picked Greek generals, for the
Greeks had made the wooden horse hollow so that a hundred men might be
hidden inside for a long time with their arms and provisions and come to
no harm. These men opened the gates of Troy, a city sunk in darkness and
sleep, and through the gates went the Grecian army which had returned in
the ships and crossed the plain silently in the cover of the night.
So the prophecy of Laocoon and of the sad Cassandra was proved true, for
there was not a Trojan on guard. King Priam and his noblest warriors
were killed, Cassandra was taken captive, and the city was set on fire
with torches and burned to the ground.
Then the Greeks set sail for their own country which they had not seen
for so many years, and they took the beautiful Helen with them, awakened
at last from the spell which Venus had cast upon her, and sorrowing for
all the suffering she had caused.
But the glory of the old Trojan days was gone forever. Men search to-day
the ruins of ancient Troy that lie hidden like bright jewels in the
depths of the ancient mountains. There is little left but the memory of
the apple of Discord that caused the destruction of the city and the
heroes and the citadel of Troy's old power.
[3]THE CYCLOPS.
The hero Ulysses was about to sail home to Greece, after the great city
of Troy had been taken, having wandered farthest and suffered most of
all in the long Trojan war.
He was well-nigh the last to sail, for he had tarried many days to do
homage to Agamemnon, lord of all the Greeks. Twelve ships he had with
him, twelve that he had brought to Troy, and in each there were some
fifty men, being scarce half of those that had sailed with them in the
old days, so many valiant heroes slept the last sleep on the plain and
on the seashore, slain in battle or by the shafts of Apollo.
So first Ulysses sailed to the Thracian coast where he and his men
filled their ships with foodstuffs and oxen and jars of fragrant juices
of the grape. Scarcely had he set out again when the wind began to blow
fiercely, and seeing a smooth sandy beach, they drove the ships to
shore, dragged them out of reach of the waves, and waited there until
the storm should abate. And the third morning, being fair, they sailed
again, and journeyed prosperously. On the tenth day they came to the
land where the lotus grows, a wonderful fruit which whoever eats cares
not to see country, home, or children again.
Now the Lotus eaters, for so they call the people of the land, were a
kindly folk and gave of the fruit to some of the sailors, not meaning
any harm, but thinking it to be the best that they had to give. These
men, when they had eaten, said that they would not sail any more over
the sea. Which when the wise Ulysses heard, he bade their comrades bind
them and carry them, sadly complaining, to the ships.
Then, the wind having abated, they took to their oars and rowed for many
days until they came to the country where the Cyclops lived. A mile or
so from the shore there was an island, very fair and fertile, but no man
dwelled there or tilled the soil, and in the island there was a harbor
where a ship might be safe from all winds and at the head of the harbor
was a stream falling from the rock with whispering alders all about it.
Into this the ships passed safely and were hauled upon the beach and the
crews slept by them, waiting for morning.
But in the morning Ulysses, who was always fond of adventure and would
know of every land to which he came what manner of men it sheltered,
took one of his twelve ships and bade the sailors row to land. There was
a great hill sloping to the shore, and there rose up, here and there, a
smoke from the caves where the Cyclopes lived apart, holding no converse
with men. They were a rude and savage folk, each ruling his own
household without taking thought of his neighbor.
Very close to the shore was one of these caves, very huge and deep, with
a hedge of laurel hiding the opening and a wall of rough stone shaded by
tall oaks and pines. Ulysses selected the twelve bravest men from his
crew and bade the rest remain behind to guard the ship while he went to
see what manner of dwelling it was and who abode there. He had his sword
by his side and on his shoulder a mighty skin of the juice of grapes,
sweet smelling and strong, with which he might win the heart of some
fierce savage, should he chance to meet such.
So they entered the cave, and judged that it was the dwelling of some
rich and skilful shepherd, for within there were pens for young sheep
and goats, divided according to their age, and there were baskets full
of cheeses, and full milk pails ranged along the wall. But the Cyclops,
himself, was away in the pastures. Then the companions of Ulysses
besought him to depart, but he would not, for he wished to see what
manner of host this strange shepherd might be. And truly he saw to his
cost!
It was evening when the Cyclops came home, a mighty giant, twenty feet
or more tall. He carried a vast bundle of pine logs on his back for his
fire, and threw them down outside the cave with a great crash. He drove
the flocks inside and closed the entrance with a huge rock which twenty
wagons and more could not have borne. Then he milked the ewes and goats,
and half of the milk he curdled for cheese and half he set ready for
himself when he should be hungry. Last, he kindled a fire with the pine
logs and the flame lighted up all the cave, showing him Ulysses and his
comrades.
"Who are you?" cried the Cyclops. "Are you traders, or pirates?"
"We are no pirates, mighty sir, but Greeks, sailing back from Troy. And
we beg hospitality of you in the name of Jupiter who rewards or punishes
the host according as he is hospitable or not."
"Then," said the giant, "it is idle to talk to me of Jupiter and the
gods. We Cyclops take no account of gods, holding ourselves to be much
better and stronger than they." Without more ado, he caught up two of
the men, and devoured them with huge draughts of milk between, leaving
not even a morsel or one of their bones. And when the giant had ended
his meal, he lay down among his sheep and fell asleep.
Ulysses would have liked to slay the Cyclops where he lay, but he
remembered that, were he to do this, his comrades would perish
miserably. How could he move away the great rock that lay against the
door of the cave? So they waited until morning. And the monster rose,
seized two more men and devoured them for his meal. Then he went to the
pastures, but put a great rock on the mouth of the cave just as a man
puts down the lid on his quiver of arrows.
All that day the wise Ulysses was thinking what he might best do to
save himself and his companions, and the end of his thinking was this.
There was a mighty pole in the cave, green wood of an olive tree as big
as a ship's mast, which the giant proposed to use as a walking staff.
Ulysses broke off a fathom's length of this and his companions pointed
it and hardened it in the fire. Then they hid it away.
At evening the giant came back, drove his flocks into the cave, fastened
the door and made his cruel feast as before. Then Ulysses came forward
with the skin of crushed grapes in his hand and said:
"Drink, Cyclops, now that you have feasted. Drink and see what a strange
draught we had in our ship."
So the Cyclops drank, and was greatly pleased.
"Give me more," he demanded. "In good truth this is a strange draught.
We, too, have vines but they do not yield any juices like this, which
indeed must be such as the gods drink."
Then Ulysses gave him the skin again and he drank from it. Three times
he gave it to him and three times the giant drank, not knowing how it
would work on his brain. At last he fell into a deep slumber. Ulysses
told his men to be of good courage for the time of their deliverance was
come.
They thrust the olive stick into the fire until, green as it was, it was
ready to burst into flame and they thrust it into the monster's eye, for
he had but one eye set in the middle of his great forehead, and made him
sightless.
Then the Cyclops leaped up and bore away the stake and cried aloud so
that all the Cyclopes who lived on the mountain side heard him and came
down, crowding about the entrance to his cave. The Cyclops rolled away
the great stone from the door of the cave and came out in the midst of
the other giants stretching out his hands to try and gather his sheep
together. And Ulysses wondered how he and his men would be able to
escape.
At last he lighted on a good device. The Cyclops had driven the rams
with the other ship into the cave and they were huge and strong. Ulysses
fastened his comrades underneath the rams, tying them with osier twigs
of which the giant made his bed. There was one mighty ram, far larger
than all the others, and to this Ulysses clung, grasping the fleece
tight with both hands. So they waited in the recesses of the cave for
morning. And when the morning came, the rams rushed out to pasture as
the giant sat in the door, feeling the back of each as it went by, but
never touching the man who was bound underneath each. With them Ulysses
escaped.
When they were out of reach of the giant, Ulysses loosed his hold of the
rams and then unbound his comrades. They hastened to their ship, climbed
in, and smote the sea with their oars, laying to right lustily that they
might the sooner escape from this accursed land. But when they had rowed
a hundred yards or so, the Cyclops heard them. He broke off the top of a
great hill, a mighty rock, and hurled it where he heard the sound of the
oars. It fell right in front of the ship's bow and washed the ship back
to the shore again. But Ulysses seized a long pole with both hands and
pushed the ship from the land and bade his comrades ply their oars
softly, nodding with his head, for he was too wise to speak, lest the
Cyclops should know where they were. Then they rowed with all their
might and main.
They had gone twice as far as before, when Ulysses' pride became so
great that he could no longer contain himself. He stood up in the boat
and called out.
"Hear, Cyclops. If any man asks who destroyed your power for evil, say
it was the warrior Ulysses, dwelling in Ithaca."
The giant heard and he lifted up his hands and spoke to Neptune, the god
of the sea, who was the father of the Cyclopes. "Hear me, Neptune, if I
am indeed your son and you are my father. May this Ulysses never reach
his home; or, if the Fates have ordered that he shall reach it, may he
come alone, with all his comrades lost."
And as the Cyclops ended this wicked prayer, he hurled another mighty
rock which almost lighted on the rudder's end, yet missed it as if by a
hair's breadth. So Ulysses escaped and all his comrades with him, and
they came to the island of the wild goats where they found the rest of
their men who had waited long for them in sore fear lest they had
perished. And they went home in triumph to Greece.
FOOTNOTE:
[3] Copyright Doubleday, Page and Co.
GLOSSARY.
Achelous Ach-e-lo'us
Achilles A-chil'les
Acrisius A-cris'i-us
Admetus Ad-me'tus
Aegean Ae-ge'an
Aeneas Ae-ne'as
Aesculapius Aes'cu-la'pi-us
Aetna Aet'na
Agamemnon Aga'mem-non
Alcestis Al-ces'tis
Alpheus Al-phe'us
Andromeda An-drom'e-da
Antaeus An-tae'us
Arachne A-rach'ne
Arcas Ar'cas
Arethusa Ar-e-thu'sa
Argonaut Ar'go-naut
Argos Ar'gos
Ariadne A-ri-ad'ne
Aristaeus Ar-is-tae'us
Atalanta At-a-lan'ta
Attica At'tica
Argus Ar'gus
Aurora Au-ro'ra
Bacchus Bac'chus
Battus Bat'tus
Baucis Bau'cis
Bellerophon Bel-ler'o-phon
Belvidere Bel-vi-dere
Boreas Bo're-as
Cadmus Cad'mus
Callisto Cal-lis'to
Cassandra Cas-san'dra
Cassiopeia Cas-si-o-pe'ia
Celeus Ce'le-us
Cerberus Cer'be-rus
Ceres Ce'res
Charon Cha'ron
Chimaera Chi-mae'ra
Circe Cir'ce
Colchis Col'chis
Crete Cre'te
Cyane Cy'a-ne
Cyclopes Cy-clo'pes
Cycnus Cyc'nus
Cyrene Cy-re'ne
Daedalus Daed'a-lus
Danae Dan'a-e
Daphne Daph'ne
Dejanira Dej'a-ni'ra
Delos De'los
Delphi Del'phi
Diana Di-a'na
Elis E'lis
Elysian E-lys'i-an
Enceladus En-cel'a-dus
Ephialtes Eph'i-al'tes
Epimetheus Ep-i-me'theus
Erisichthon Er-i-sich'thon
Europa Eu-ro'pa
Eurydice Eu-ryd'i-ce
Eurystheus Eu-rys'theus
Galatea Gal-a-te'a
Glaucus Glau'cus
Gordius Gor'di-us
Gorgon Gor'gon
Halcyone Hal-cy'o-ne
Hamadryad Ham-a-dry'ad
Hebe He'be
Hector Hec'tor
Helios He'lios
Hercules Her'cu-les
Hesperides Hes-per'i-des
Hesperus Hes'pe-rus
Hippomenes Hip-pom'e-nes
Hydra Hy'dra
Icarus I'ca-rus
Iobates I-ob'a-tes
Iris I'ris
Laocoon La-oc'o-on
Latona La-to'na
Lemnos Lem'nos
Lycia Lyc'i-a
Medusa Me-du'sa
Melampos Me-lam'pos
Menelaus Men-e-la'us
Mercury Mer'cu-ry
Merope Mer'o-pe
Midas Mi'das
Minerva Mi-ner'va
Minos Mi'nos
Minotaur Min'o-taur
Mosychlos Mosy'chlos
Nemea Ne'me-a
Nereides Ne-re'i-des
Olympus O-lym'pus
Orion O-ri'on
Orpheus Or'pheus
Ossa Os'sa
Otus O-tus
Ovid Ov'id
Pactolus Pac-to'lus
Pandora Pan-do'ra
Patroclus Pa-tro'clus
Pegasus Peg'a-sus
Pelias Pe'li-as
Peneus Pe-ne'us
Perseus Per'seus
Phaeton Pha'e-ton
Phineas Phin'e-us
Polydectes Pol-y-dec'tes
Priam Pri'am
Prometheus Pro-me'theus
Proserpine Pro-ser'pine
Philemon Phi-le'mon
Phrygia Phryg'ia
Pomona Po-mo'na
Proteus Pro'teus
Psyche Psy'che
Pygmalion Pyg-ma'lion
Pylos Py-los
Python Py'thon
Samos Sa'mos
Scylla Scyl'la
Seriphus Se-ri'phus
Sinon Si'non
Sirius Sir'i-us
Somnus Som'nus
Terminalia Ter'mi-nal-ia
Theseus The'se-us
Thessaly Thess'a-ly
Thetis The'tis
Thracian Thra-ci'an
Tityus Tit'yus
Trachine Tra'ch-ine
Tmolus Tmo'lus
Triton Tri'ton
Troegene Troe'gene
Ulysses U-lys'ses
Vertumnus Ver-tum'nus
Vulcan Vul'can
End of Project Gutenberg's Wonder Stories, by Carolyn Sherwin Bailey