troy

[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

to their homes and slept heavily.
Meanwhile the Greek ships were returning from behind Tenedos as fast as the oarsmen could row
them.
PAGE 50 OF 52
Free download at www.fabmart .com
One Trojan did not drink or sleep; this was Deiphobus, at whose house Helen was now living. He
bade her come with them, for he knew that she was able to speak in the very voice of all men and
women whom she had ever seen, and he armed a few of his friends and went with them to the
citadel. Then he stood beside the horse, holding Helen's hand, and whispered to her that she must
call each of the chiefs in the voice of his wife. She was obliged to obey, and she called Menelaus in
her own voice, and Diomede in the voice of his wife, and Ulysses in the very voice of Penelope.
Then Menelaus and Diomede were eager to answer, but Ulysses grasped their hands and whispered
the word "Echo!" Then they remembered that this was a name of Helen, because she could speak in
all voices, and they were silent; but Anticlus was still eager to answer, till Ulysses held his strong
hand over his mouth. There was only silence, and Deiphobus led Helen back to his house. When
they had gone away Epeius opened the side of the horse, and all the chiefs let themselves down
softly to the ground. Some rushed to the gate, to open it, and they killed the sleeping sentinels and
let in the Greeks. Others sped with torches to burn the houses of the Trojan princes, and terrible
was the slaughter of men, unarmed and half awake, and loud were the cries of the women. But
Ulysses had slipped away at the first, none knew where. Neoptolemus ran to the palace of Priam,
who was sitting at the altar in his courtyard, praying vainly to the Gods, for Neoptolemus slew the
old man cruelly, and his white hair was dabbled in his blood. All through the city was fighting and
slaying; but Menelaus went to the house of Deiphobus, knowing that Helen was there.
In the doorway he found Deiphobus lying dead in all his armour, a spear standing in his breast.
There were footprints marked in blood, leading through the portico and into the hall. There
Menelaus went, and found Ulysses leaning, wounded, against one of the central pillars of the great
chamber, the firelight shining on his armour.
"Why hast thou slain Deiphobus and robbed me of my revenge?" said Menelaus. "You swore to
give me a gift," said Ulysses, "and will you keep your oath?" "Ask what you will," said Menelaus;
"it is yours and my oath cannot be broken." "I ask the life of Helen of the fair hands," said Ulysses
"this is my own life-price that I pay back to her, for she saved my life when I took the Luck of
Troy, and I swore that hers should be saved."
Then Helen stole, glimmering in white robes, from a recess in the dark hall, and fell at the feet of
Menelaus; her golden hair lay in the dust of the hearth, and her hands moved to touch his knees.
His drawn sword fell from the hands of Menelaus, and pity and love came into his heart, and he
raised her from the dust and her white arms were round his neck, and they both wept. That night
Menelaus fought no more, but they tended the wound of Ulysses, for the sword of Deiphobus had
bitten through his helmet.
When dawn came Troy lay in ashes, and the women were being driven with spear shafts to the
ships, and the men were left unburied, a prey to dogs and all manner of birds. Thus the grey city
fell, that had lorded it for many centuries. All the gold and silver and rich embroideries, and ivory
and amber, the horses and chariots, were divided among the army; all but a treasure of silver and
gold, hidden in a chest within a hollow of the wall, and this treasure was found, not very many
years ago, by men digging deep on the hill where Troy once stood. The women, too, were given to
the princes, and Neoptolemus took Andromache to his home in Argos, to draw water from the well
and to be the slave of a master, and Agamemnon carried beautiful Cassandra, the daughter of
Priam, to his palace in Mycenae, where they were both slain in one night. Only Helen was led with
honour to the ship of Menelaus.
PAGE 51 OF 52
Free download at www.fabmart .com
The story of all that happened to Ulysses on his way home from Troy is told in another book,
"Tales of the Greek Seas."
PAGE 52 OF 52
Free download at www.fabmart .com [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

Archiwum