After the theft of the Palladium by Odysseus, the Trojans feared the worst, but still the Greeks did not attack., Looking over their impregnable walls, the Trojans saw the Greeks building something huge from wood, but couldn't see what., One day, the Trojans awoke to find the Greek camp deserted; all the ships, tents and soldiers had vanished., The Trojans flung wide the gate and all raced down to the beach, where they found only an extraordinary object:, it was a huge wooden horse, and painted on its side was the inscription: 'For their safe return home, the Greeks dedicate this offering to Athena.', As the Trojans stared at the horse, scouts arrived, dragging a filthy, weeping Greek soldier behind them. Priam asked him what had happened., 'Great king Priam!' cried the wretched man, 'The Greeks have left! The prophet Calchas gave them this prophecy:, 'With the luck of the Palladium, the Greeks would conquer Troy, but only if they left Troy now and returned later from Greece altogether., 'Before they left, however, they had to leave a suitably impressive offering to Athena, and sacrifice a man on the grave of Achilles.', King Priam then asked the wretched man who he was, and why he had been left behind., 'My name is Sinon,' he replied. 'Odysseus wanted to sacrifice me on Achilles' grave, so I ran away and hid in the swamp.', The Trojans asked Sinon if there was any way they could stop the Greeks from returning., Sinon replied that the prophet Calchas had told them that, like the Palladium, whoever possessed the horse would also have the favour of the gods..., ...therefore the Greeks had made it too big for the Trojans to be able to get it through the gates of their city., The Trojans began discussing whether they should pull down the wall to get the horse into the city, when a figure pushed his way to the front of the crowd....

The Wooden Horse - part 1

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