so ever after she was afraid for her son, always
afraid.
PatroclusWhen he was old enough, his father sent him to
· Thessaly, with an older boy, Patroclus, For his com- companion
· .
panion, to Chiron, the wisest of all the Centaurs. ChironRe
And with the other boy, Chiron taught him to ride mentor
(on his own back) and trained him in all the war-·
rior skills of sword and spear and bow, and in aking the music of the lyre, until. the time came for
him to return to his father's court.
But when the High King's summons went out
. and the black ships were launched for war, his .
,_
hen Menelaus returned from hunting mother sent him secretly to the Isle of Scyros, beg- :
Low point
· and found his queen fled with the Tr,;jan ging King [:ycomedes to have him dressed as a i
prince, the black grief and the red rage'·· ·maiden a!'d hidden among his own daughters, so ;
came upon him, and he sent word of the wrong that he mi ht be safe.
J
done to him and a furious ca.ll for aid to his brother,
How it .came about that Achilles·agreed to this, ·
black-bearded Agamemnon, who. was High King no one knows; Maybe she cast some kind of spell .
over all the other kings of Greece.
·on hiJU, fo ·.lov 's sake. But there he remained!·
And from golden Mycenae of the Lion Gate among the princesses, while the ships gathered in i.
where Agamemnon sat in his great hall, the call the world outside.
·
I
went out for men and ships. To ancient Nestor of
··But Thetis' loving plan tailed after all, for, followPylos, to Thisbe, where the wild doves croon, to ing the seaways eastward, part of the fleet-put in to i
rocky Pytho, to Ajax the mighty, Lord of Salamis,
take on fresh water at Scyros, where the whisper
!'f the Loud War Cry whose l nd:t was abroad that Prince Achilles was conceal. ed.
1
Large and
cast Diomedes
of
··was
Argos
of
the
many
horses,
to
the
cunnmg
King
Lycomedes
welcomed
the
warriors
but
de1
characters
Odysseus among the harsh hills of IthaCa, even far nied all knowledge of the.yo..;ng prince. The leadc
south to ld9meneus of Crete, and many more.
ers were desperate to lind him, for· Calchas, chief'
And from Crete and Argos and ·Ithaca, from the among the soothsayers who sailed with them, had
mainland aiid. tlie'lsli:md lieblack ·ships put to said that they would not take Troy without him.. 1 person
makes diff
sea, as the kings gathered their men from the fields Then Odysseus, who was not called the Resource. ancl the fishing and took up bows and spears for ful for ·nothing, blackened his beard and eyebrows
the keeping of their oath, to fetch back Helen of the and put on the dress of a trader, turning his hair up
Fa\r Cheeks and tike vepgeance upon. Troy; wh6Se l under a seaman's red cap, and with a staff in one ·
prince hadcarriedh r away. . . .
.
:hand.and a huge·pack on his back went up to the
Agamemnort waited for them with his own ships · palace.
in the harbor of Aulis; and when they had gathered
When the girls heard that there was a trader in
to him there, the great Aeet sailed for Troy.
'
the palace forecourt; out from the women's quarBut one of the war-leaders who should have ters they all c e running, Achilles among them,
been with them was lacking•..and this waSthe way veiled like the rest, to see him undo his pack: And
of it. Before ever Paris was born, Thetis of the Sil- when he had done so, each of them chose what she
ver Feet had given a'son to King Peleus, and they liked best: a wreath of gold, a necklace of amber, a
Side story
called him Achilles. The gods had promised that if pair of turquoise earrings blue as the sky, a skirt of
she dipped the babe in. the Styx, which is one of embroidered .scarlet silk, until they came to the
strength
the ··ivers of the u ndern'orld, t ie sacred water bottom of the pack. And at the bottom ofthe pack
would proof him against death in battle. So, gladly lay a great sword of bronze, the hilt\tudded with
she did as she was bidden, but dipping him head- golden nails. Then the last of the girls, still closely
·. 2.SHIP GATHERING
.w
I
I
i
i
llrst in the dark and bitter Hood, she held on to him veiled, who had held back as though waiting all the
weakness
by one foot. Thus her llngers, pressed about his 1 while, swooped forward and cau.ght it up, as one
heel, kept the waters from reaching that one spot. ! ·well used to the handling of such weapons. And at
By the time she understood what she had done it j the familiar·feel of it, the spell that his mother.)lad
was too late, for the thing could not be done again;_j set upon him dissolved away.
.
I
---------
1cunning.{adj):
.... _._.,
,._,.
deceiving, sly, or crafty \
- •:·
.
resurrection
This for mel:' said Prince Achilles; pulling ofF · his veil.
Then the kings and chieftains of the fleet greeted
and rejoiced over him. They stripped off his girl's
garments and dressed him in kilt and cloak as befitted a w,.;,;or, with his new sword slung at his side;
a d they sent him back to his father's court to claim ·
the ships and the fighting men that were his by . Call to action
right, that he might add them to the fleet.
His mother wept over him, saying, "I had hoped i
to keep you safe for the love I bear you. But now it I
must be fo you to choose. If you bide here with !
me, you shall live long and happy. If you go forth ·
now with the fighting men, you will make for yourself a name that shall last whae men tell stories
round the fire, even to the ending of the world. But'
you will not live to see.the first gray hair in your
beard, and you will come·home no more to your faHonor more than life
ther's hall." ·
"Short life and
long fame
for me: said Achilles,: I
.
.
fingering his sword.
.
I
So his father gave him fifty. ships; fully manned,:
and Patroclus to go with him for his friend and· Special gift( ships, men, armor)
sword-companion. AndJ..is mother, weeping still, i
armed him in his father's.armor; glorious war gear'
that Hephaestus, the smith of the gods, had made ·
for him.
And he sailed to join the black ships on their way
to Tr.<>.i
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