Achilles (Mythological character) -- Juvenile literature; Epic poetry, Greek -- Adaptations; Readers; Trojan War -- Juvenile literature
Their first experience was not very fortunate. They safely crossed the
Ægean Sea, but instead of steering for Troy, the pilots, through either
ignorance or mistake, brought the vessels to the shore on the coast of
Teu-thra'ni-a, a district in the kingdom of Mys'i-a, lying southeast of
Troas. Here the Greeks landed, but they were at once attacked by
Tel'e-phus, the king of that country, who came down upon them with a
strong force, and drove them back to their ships after a battle in which
many of them were killed. They would probably have fared much worse had
it not been for the friendly aid of Bacʹchus, the god of wine. While
Telephus was fighting at the head of his men he tripped and fell over a
vine, which the god had caused to spring up suddenly from the earth at
his feet. As he lay flat on the ground Achilles rushed forward and
severely wounded him with a thrust of his spear.
The Greeks, however, were obliged to take to the sea, and soon afterward
a great storm arose, which destroyed many of their vessels. Owing to
this misfortune they had to return to Aulis, where they set about
repairing their damaged ships and getting ready to start again. While
the Greeks were thus engaged, they were surprised by the appearance of
King Telephus, who came to their camp to beg Achilles to cure his wound,
an oracle he had consulted having told him that he could be cured only
by the person who had wounded him.
Achilles was at first unwilling to comply with the request of Telephus,
but Ulysses advised him to do so. Telephus was one of the sons of
Hercules, and it had been decreed that without the help of a son of that
hero Troy could not be taken. Moreover, he was a son-in-law of Priam,
and his country lay close to where the war was to be carried on. For
these reasons Ulysses wished to make him friendly to the Greeks, and so
he persuaded Achilles to cure the Teuthranian king. Achilles did this by
dropping into the wound portions of the rust from the point of his
spear. Telephus was so grateful that he joined the expedition against
Troy, and undertook to pilot the Grecian fleet to the Trojan coast.
But another difficulty now stood in the way of the Greeks. Their fleet
was once more ready for departure, but the winds were unfavorable. In
ancient times they could not make a sea voyage when the winds were
against them. Their ships were very small, and were moved only by oars
and sails. Homer gives us a good idea of the ancient system of
navigation, where he tells, in the Odyssey, about young Telemachus
setting out on a voyage in search of his father, Ulysses:
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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