St. Paul daily globe., 1889-04-06
TROJAN WAR.
4 Beautiful NEUROLOGICAL Tale
for the Young.

ology. whose mother dipped him in the
river StyX to render him inveulnerable?
What girl has not learned something OF
the fair Helen of Troy? What youth
full mind, upon reading intent, has not
formed some dim conception of Ajax
and Ulysses, OF Hector ana Kneas, as
pictured in Homer's immortal
poems, the lliad and the Odyssey,
and Virgil's 1Fneid? There is no
story of romance, in all the worlds lit
erary treasures. that appeals so strongly
TO the youthful fancy as 'e siege of
Troy. 1t is the choicest of the classics,
and, besides being so fascinating, is a
necessary part of the education. The
young readers of the GLOBE will i'll
time doubtless read the stories of Homer
and Virgil in the original, or in
the translations by Bryant and
Longfellow, but | intend TO give them
an interesting outline of the siege
of Troy, with its stories of the
brave Achilles, the wise Ulysses. the
stout Ajax, the valiant Hector and the
fair but weak Helen. 1t begins in
ancient Greece, 1900 years before the
Christian era, when the Greeks peopled
when Jupiter was the king OF the gods,
and the milky way was the road lead
ing TO his palace in high Olympus, and
when all the train of gods and gOddeSSeS
greatly interested themselves in the
affairs of the world.
THE FAIR HELEN
AT that time was Grecian princess, and
was the most beautiful woman in the
world. All of the princes OF Greece
were suitors for. her hand, the list in
cludipg Menelaus, the young king of
Sparta, and Ulysses. Helen was un-
able to decide among them all, and the
lovers finally made an agreement among
themselves that they would not only
abide by her decision, but would sol
emnly swear to join forces and pro-
tect and defend her and the hus-
band she might choose. She then
chose MeDelaus, and the rest attended
the wedding with the best grace they
could command and afterward looked
out for wives elsewhere. Ulysses mar
ried the lovely Penelope. the other
princes married, one by one, and the
rivalry over Helen was forgotten.
Shortly after occurred the wedding OF
Peleus and Thetis. Thetis, afterward
the mother of Achilles, was beauti-
full sea nymph, and so lovely that
Jupiter himself sought to marry her;
but Juno, his royal wife, inter
posed, and Jupiter decreed that ThetiS
should marry mortal. Peleus won
her, and the wedding was celebrated
with great pomp. All of the gods and
goddesses were invited except Ate, the
Goddess of DiscOrd. who determined to
avenge herself. Accordingly, when the
feast was at its height, she threw in a
golden apple, inscribed For the fair
est" Juno, the queen Of heaven; Min
erva, the goddess of wisdom, and
Venus, the goddess of love, each
claimed it. and Jupiter, to whom it was
appealed, found difficulty in deciding to
whom to award it. Finally he said:
"0n Mount Ida is shepherd, named
Paris. will give him the apple, and
he shall decide.''
This apple was the famous "apple of
discord."
THE JUDGMENT OF PARIS.
Paris, the shepherd, was son of
Priam, king OF Troy, but it was prophe-
sled at his birth that he would be the
cause of the downfall of the city; So he
was left upon Mount Ida to die. But he
grew to be very handsome man. At
the appointed time Jupiter sent the
golden apple to him by Mercury, the
messenger of the gods, and ordered
Juno, Minerva and Venus to appear
before him. Juno was the first to pre-
sent herself. She did not rely upon her
stately beauty. but promised Paris, if
he would decide in her favor, to give
nd 81,
would make him the greatest man upon
earth. The wise Minerva came next
She told Paris there was nothing like
wisdom, and promised she would make
him the wiSeSt man on earth if he
would decide in her favor. Last
came Venus, in all her lowell
ness. She knew the weakness of men,
and she said to Paris: Give me
the apple and will give you for your
wife the most beautiful woman in the
world" Paris never heSitated. but at
Dnce gave her the apple. which she car
fied off in triumph, while Juno and
Minerva returned to Olympus vowing
vengeance. Venus proceeded to carry
out her promise, and told Paris the
most beautiful woman was helen, the
wife of Menelaus, and she would
secure her for him. Accordingly she
had Paris introduced at the court of
King Menelaus. He made love to
Helen, and Venus induced her to elope
with him. They fled to King Priam at
Troy, where they were Hospitality re-
ceived and entertained. King Menelaus
raised an army to attack Troy, and it
was this series of battles. lasting
through ten years, that made the
famous siege of Troy celebrated in the
immortal verse of Homer.
PREPARING FOR THE SIEGE.
When Menelaus discovered the treach-
cry of Paris he sent to the various kings
Of Greece and reminded them of their
compact to protect and defend Helen;
but most of them had married and set
He'd down and had little taste for such a
war. When the messenger went to
Ulysses he pretended to be mad. and, ,yok-
ing an OK and an ass together, ploughed
salt. But the messenger placed
the infant son of Ulysses, Telemachus,
before the plough; Ulysses turned aside.
showing that he was sane, and finally
agreed to join. One by one the kings
came together with their armies. until
all were assembled but Achilles. Thetis,
Achilles mother, knowing that if he
went against Troy he would lose his
life, had hidden him. He was disguised
as girl and sent among the daughters
OF neighboring king. Ulysses dis
guised himself as peddler, and, with
weapons for sale, went to the palace. The
girls came around him and he gave an
alalm of danger; the girls fled, but
Achilles seized the weapons, thus dis
closing himself to Ulysses. who had no
difficulty in persuading him TO join.
l,n I,f, Ill
Agamemnon was chosen command
er-in-chief and the expedition pre-
pared to set sail for Troy: but
adverse winds sprang up and the
ships were unable to leave the shore.
This continued for some time, until the