Reuben has been working on this narrative at school. I have never seen him work so hard or with such enthusiasm. It's a shame his illustrations aren't here as they are fab too. Roo is having a good time at the moment. He came 2nd in the high jump and 3rd in the Long jump out of all the 9 year olds ( year fours and year fives), he's playing t-ball (like baseball) and cricket and still doing gym and kung fu. Phew! And he still finds time to be gorgeous and lovely!
The Trojan ThiefSparta was the most powerful city in Greece in 1180BC. In the great palace of Sparta, Menelaus and Helen are sitting on the throne. Ok, now you know how good Sparta is.
Now we can meet Menelaus and Helen.
Menelaus was a middle-aged king and was huge compared to a normal man. That is why he won battles. Helen was the queen of Sparta and was said to be the daughter of a God because of her beauty. She was soon to be very famous.
Now to the story.
Menelaus wanted to make peace with their long time enemy Troy, so he got together all the Trojan princes including Paris and Hector. Hector was a kind prince but could be very dangerous when he needed to be. Paris was a handsome prince but had never been in battle, but he could not take his eyes off Helen. They all went off to their beds except for Paris and Helen. They stayed for what felt like hours. Then Helen broke the silence.
‘You need your rest’, said Helen. ‘What do you want with me?’
‘Everything’, answered Paris.
‘Why?’ asked Helen. ‘Are you blind to reason?’
‘I’m only blinded by your beauty’, said Paris
‘It’s late. You need to go to bed’ Helen told Paris.
Paris couldn’t sleep. Most of the night he was thinking about Helen and in the middle of the night he had an idea. A light bulb lit up in his mind.
‘I will take her’.
The next morning Helen and the other princes were gone. Menelaus was furious.
‘Where is she?’ screamed Menelaus. ‘I’m going to kill her!’
Then one of the Generals came in and said: ‘A local fisherman saw her board one of the Trojan ships’.
‘Our peace with Troy is broken.’ said Menelaus. ‘Get my brother and ask all the Greek kings how we get her back’.
So on that very day they got all the Greet ships and sailed to Troy. Meanwhile on the Trojan ship… ‘You did what?’ screamed Hector.
Paris had just shown him Helen, who was under the Ship. ‘You stole the king’s wife’.
‘I will take her to Troy’, said Paris sternly.
‘Menelaus will never forget you. He will remember you as the Trojan thief’.
Meanwhile, at the Spartan docks….
‘Get together, we are setting sail’, shouted Menelaus.
In one week they got to the beach of Troy. Achilles was the first to get there, but Troy had put up the fences. Achilles was fast, strong and he was the best fighter in the army. It was said that he couldn’t die.
Next was Ajax. He was massive compared to even Menelaus. He held a huge weapon. They fought very well. Soon every ship was on the sand and they had overpowered the defenders.
‘Set up camp. We will be here for a long time.’ shouted Menelaus.
‘No. Don’t. We will take Troy in a day.’ shouted Agamemnon.
Agamemnon was Menelaus’ brother. He was very greedy. He wanted Troy all for himself. ‘We fight now!’ screamed Agamemnon. So the army got together and went to Troy’s walls.
The Trojan army was waiting for them. Paris and Hector were in the front. Paris stepped forward. ‘I will fight your best warrior.’ announced Paris.
‘I will fight you, you Trojan thief.’ said Menelaus.
As Paris came between the Trojan army and the Greeks, he stumbled on a rock. Menelaus just smirked at his feebleness.
‘You idiot,’ whispered Hector to himself.
Paris threw his spear at Menelaus, but he dodged it expertly. Menelaus was the first to strike. He lunged at Paris with his sword held for a head strike. Paris ducked, but his helmet flew off onto the battlefield. Paris tried the same movement, but he was not as strong, but his sword bounced off Menelaus’ helmet. Paris tried to punch him, but Menelaus blocked the blow and punched him back. Paris crawled back to Hector.
‘Fight me you coward.’ shouted Menelaus. ‘I will kill you at your brother’s feet.’
He attempted this, but failed. Hector was too quick for him, and stabbed through the great king’s heart. ‘Nooooo’ screamed Agamemnon. ‘Charge!’
On Troy’s walls an archer let go of his arrow and it went flying towards Agamemnon, and went straight through his heart. The army was already advancing.
With the clash of shining swords, the battle began.
Odysseus, who was the king of Ithaca, and the most clever of the whole Greek army, was not fighting but watching, with Achilles.
‘Retreat.’ murmured Achilles. ‘They are retreating.’
Meanwhile, on the battlefield…
‘Back to camp.’ shouted the General.
Ten minutes later, they were back in their tents.
‘Why did you retreat?’ Achilles asked.
‘Why did you not fight’? asked the General.
‘I was seeing how you would do without me. Now it is your turn.’ replied Achilles.
‘Their archers were too many.’ Answered the General.
A couple of hours later, Achilles awoke to the sound of flying arrows.
‘We are under attack!’ He shouted.
Just after he said that, Achilles saw a ball of hay rolling down a sand dune, and fire arrows on the ground, just before the tents.
‘What is Troy doing?’ He wondered.
Then the ball caught fire and rolled into a tent. More and more balls followed it and they all made their mark. In the end there was only sixty-four tents left!
‘The people whose tent got destroyed should sleep in the ships.’ The General announced.
‘You are just a big show off.’ Achilles said. ‘I am going to my tent.’
Ten minutes later…
‘General.’ It was a Myrmidon. ‘We have captured a Priest, Sir.’
‘Bring her in’. Achilles told the Myrmidon.
Just then a priest came in. It looked like she was pushed.
‘What is your name?’ asked Achilles.
‘Nanda’. She replied.
‘That’s a nice name. Mine is Achilles.’ He said lightly. ‘You smell like royalty.’
‘Hector is my cousin.’ Nanda told him.
Then two guards came in and were about to take her away.
‘Who commanded you to do this?’ asked Achilles.
‘The General Sir’. answered one of the soldiers.
Then Achilles stormed into the General’s tent.
‘Why did you do that?’ asked Achilles.
‘We need to have a swap, our captured men for her’ answered the General.
‘No man would be good enough to be swapped for her.’ Achilles screamed.
‘Now we know how stupid the Trojans are.’ The General chuckled.
‘I will never fight for you ever again.’ shouted Achilles.
‘You are bluffing.’ The general replied.
Achilles lunged at him with his sword, but stopped before he struck the General. “You think I am bluffing. Watch me’, answered Achilles. Then he ran out of the tent.
‘He will fight.’ chuckled the General.
The next morning….
‘To the beach.’ shouted the General. The whole army of thousands lined up to protect their base. A dark shadow loomed across the battlefield. ‘Zeus is upon us!’ shouted the General. Then the general saw a black figure running up a sand dune.
‘It’s Achilles!’ shouted a soldier. ‘He is fighting for us!’
‘I knew he would.’ Murmured the General, under his breath.
‘Achilles’ went through the crowd, and charged into the army, with his sword swinging into the Trojan attackers. Hector came through the Trojan army and tried to duel with ‘Achilles’. Front jab here, jump swipe there. Then finally Hector used a neck swipe and Achilles took a direct hit and fell to his knees. On the fall, his helmet came off, and revealed ‘Achilles’ to be in reality Achilles’ cousin Patroclus.
A few minutes later Achilles heard a Myrmidon outside his tent. Then he came in.
‘Sir’. It looked like he was about to cry. ‘It’s Patroclus, Sir’. He paused. ‘ He’s dead’.
‘Who did this?’ Demanded Achilles.
‘Hector, Sir.’ Answered the Myrmidon.
‘I will kill them!’ Achilles screamed, as he rushed out of his tent. Five minutes later Achilles was ready for a one on one battle with Hector. He rode off to the duel. Five more minutes and he arrived at the walls of Troy. Close up the walls looked like they had withstood a battering from a Titan. Actually, it had.
‘Hector.’ shouted Achilles.
A few minutes later the gate of Troy opened and a figure stepped out onto the dry ground. Achilles was the first to move. He rushed at Hector and his sword hit deep into Hector’s knee. Achilles tried to hit Hector on the neck, just like Hector used to kill Patroclus, but Hector blocked this blow expertly. Hector spun around and his sword missed Achilles’ chest by millimetres. Hector tried this move again but swung too wildly and staggered backwards. The last thing Hector saw was a spear coming straight for him.
‘It is done.’ Achilles thought to himself. Achilles tied Hector to his chariot. Achilles then rode his chariot round Troy four times, dragging the dirty, lifeless body of Hector. Paris was watching all of this with disgust. Paris turned to Helen and said: ‘My brother deserves a hero’s burial. Only you would be safe in the Greek camp. Ask my father what we should offer for the body.’.
Later that night, Achilles heard footsteps outside of his tent. Helen came in and told Achilles ‘I have come in secret. Paris and the whole of Troy want Hector’s body. The king is willing to give you Hector’s weight in gold.’ Achilles agreed to this because he had already weighed Hector himself, because he knew at some time or other they would ask him this.
At that exact time Odysseus was sitting at the camp with some of his soldiers. The soldier next to him was carving a horse out of marble. The soldier saw him staring. ‘For my child back home.’ Explained the soldier.
That gave Odysseus an idea. He instructed his soldiers to cut down as many trees as possible from the lush pine forest. He ordered all the boat builders to construct a structure by his design. Finally it was complete. A big, hollow, wooden horse.
Odysseus wanted Ajax in the horse but two people wouldn’t be enough to get the gate open. So he went to all the other Kings to go inside the horse. He finally went to the General and explained his plan. There was a ceasefire for 12 days for the hero’s burial. In twelve days, Odysseus’s plan was ready. It looked as if the Greeks had left. The people of Troy were very confused because the Greeks had left behind a big wooden horse. They thought it was a gift for Poseidon, the sea god. So they brought it to the temple of Poseidon. Luckily for the Greeks who were in the horse, that temple was near the gate. At midnight, the Greeks jumped down from a hatch they had made in the belly of the horse, The Greeks climbed up the walls. They slaughtered the Trojan defenders. The Greeks threw the bodies into a ditch running just below the wall. The Greek army came into view. It was massive. The gate opened and the army rushed in.
The alarm was raised but it was already too late. The Greeks poured over the streets. Some Trojans put up a fight, but still did not survive. Some Trojan families even threw themselves out of high windows rather than face the wrath of the Greeks.
Achilles (who was in the horse because Hector had killed his cousin) tried to find Nanda. He rushed through the crowds, not caring about the screaming families. Paris was doing the same thing, except for a different person. He was looking for Achilles. Paris was armed with his precious bow. He found Achilles with Nanda, Hector’s cousin. Paris confidently let go of his arrow. It hit Achilles’ spine.
‘No!’ Nanda shouted.
‘I have to.’ replied Paris. ‘For the good of Troy.’ He let go of another arrow and this time it hit Achilles’ heel. Paris only had one arrow left, but he used it willingly. This arrow hit Achilles’ heel again, and Achilles died. (That is how we got the phrase ‘an Achilles heel.)
The army rushed around the area. The General came up and viewed the scene, and just nodded. Achilles had a proper burial which lasted for one month. Ajax and Odysseus both wanted Achilles’ armour so they had a competition. Odysseus won.
With Troy destroyed, the Greek Kings held a celebration because they had avenged Helen’s kidnapping and Menaleus’ death. The Greeks then sailed for home, but that is another story……
THE END
