The Face That Launched a Thousand Ships

Paris returned to his father's powerful city of Troy, once he arrived he was crowned prince. His father then sent him to Tyre, and on his way back he went through Greece. He didn’t know what trouble and suffering this would cause.

In Greece lived the fairest woman in the world. Her name was Helen and she was married to king Menelaus. When Paris saw her, he fell in love, stole her, and took her to Troy.

Menelaus sent a message to Troy, “Give me back my wife peacefully or I will wage war on you!” But the Trojans said that they wouldn’t give up the most beautiful woman in the world for one, small, measly, king of Greece.

Agamemnon was the king of the very rich city Mycenæ. His deeds and fame were told throughout the country, and every king of Greece looked to him for help. Now after king Agamemnon saw his brother Menelaus’ armies being defeated by the powerful Trojans, he vowed to gather the forces of Greece together and defeat Troy. Then Agamemnon said, ‘If all the kings of Greece unite, we can overcome the Trojans, and you can gain great riches.’

They all joined together, and destroyed all of Troy’s allies, but they couldn’t defeat Troy. They stayed for years. But at the ninth year, there was a plague. That killed more people than the Trojans ever did.

                                                 To be continued later….

The Tale of Jemima Puddle-Duck (retold)

Jemima Puddle-Duck lived on a crowded, noisy farm. Every time she laid her eggs, the farmer’s wife took them and ate them.

Jemima was very annoyed by this, so she decided “I will make a nest away from the farm. I will start looking for a place,” she paused for a moment, “right now!” So she gathered everything together and went off to find a place to make a nest.

               

When she reached the top of a large hill, she could see a forest in the distance. She decided to fly there and find a good spot to make a nest, but she wasn’t very good at flying. While she was walking she tripped a few times, but after she ran a long way she was able to fly nicely.

She saw a tree stump and thought it looked like a nice spot. She landed and was surprised to find a very gentlemanly fox reading the news. “Hello there, madam, what may you be doing here, deep in the forest?”

“I am trying to find a nesting place away from the farm. The farmer’s wife always takes my eggs once I lay them. I also have a feeling that she eats them.”

“Don’t worry about that, I have a shed behind my house full of feathers, you can make your nest there. It is very warm.”

They went to his shed and it was overflowing with feathers. Jemima was wondering, “Where did he get all those feathers?” But she was very glad to have them. They kept her very warm.

Every day she tripped, ran, and flew to the shed to make her nest. Eventually she laid nine eggs in her nest. Then she said, “Tomorrow I plan to start sitting on my eggs. They might get cold even with all those feathers. I will bring a bag of food so that I will never have to get up.”

But the gentleman said, “Before you sit for a long time, let us have a large feast! Bring onions and herbs for an omelette and roast duck.” But Jemima wasn't paying much attention to the “omelette and roast duck” part, so he just told her the herbs he needed.

Jemima went back to the farm garden and found everything that the gentleman needed. But on her way back the collie dog stopped her and asked her where she went every day. She told him everything. The collie went with the farmer to find some lost puppies and Jemima went to the fox’s house.

When she got there, he looked very worried and was apparently in a bad mood. “Give me the onions and the herbs. Come inside after looking at your eggs!”

She was just about to leave her eggs when the collie came and locked her in the shed. Jemima was very scared as she heard noises of a big fight outside. When it was done, the collie unlocked the door. No sign of the fox was to be seen. All the dogs had visible signs of injury. But when the door opened, the puppies went in and gobbled up all the eggs.

Jemima was extremely sad because of those eggs and she trudged back to the farm. Next time she laid eggs, she was allowed to keep them. Instead of taking her eggs, the farmer’s wife took Rebecca Puddle-Duck’s eggs.            

    The end

Parable of the Prodigal Son

A farmer had two sons, but the younger son asked his father, “I don’t want to live here all my life; I want to choose what to do with my life. Can you please give me my inheritance now?” So their father brought his older son and younger son, and gave them their inheritance. Soon the younger son gathered his things and left home.

Just when he had wasted all the money given to him, a huge famine began. He was so hungry; he started serving a citizen of that land. He sent the younger brother into his field to feed the pigs. He was so hungry, he would eat the pig’s food, but no one would give him anything.

Then he thought, “Even my father’s servants have more than enough food, I’m his son, and I don’t have any. I don’t deserve to be called his son. Maybe if I go back, he will accept me as his servant. At least then I will have enough food.”

When he was still a long way off, his father saw him coming back home, and ran to greet him. “Father, I don’t deserve to be called yo…”

“I am so happy that you’re home! Bring him better clothes, and let us have a feast!”

His older brother was working in the field all day, but when he got back and heard the feast, he asked a servant, “What is all this noise?”

 The servant said, “Your brother came back home! Your father is very excited, come on in and celebrate!”

But the elder brother was very angry, and said to his father, “I work very hard for you every day, and you never let me have a feast with my friends. But when my brother who has wasted your money comes home, you give him a huge feast.”

“I gave half of what I own to your brother, everything else here is yours. It is a time to celebrate, your brother was lost, and now is found!”

Xenophon, to the sea

A long time ago during the year 400 B.C., Xenophon was travelling with the Greeks to the sea. But when they arrived at a prosperous city called Gymnius, the ruler of the land gave them a guide to help them travel through a country that was unfriendly to his kingdom. Their guide said "At the end of five days, if the sea is not in sight, you can kill me." So very willingly, they traveled with him to the sea.

On the fifth day, they were climbing Mount Theches and Xenophon was riding in the back when he suddenly heard a loud noise. He had no idea what the noise was, but he thought it was caused by enemies attacking. He thought this because they had attacked and burned the country on their way to the sea.

Then Xenophon thought "My people are being attacked, I have to help them!" So he took Lycius and some of the cavalry with him to go to the top of the mountain and fight off the attackers. When they arrived at the top, they found that the noise was actually everyone shouting "The sea, the sea!" for they could see the sea from the top of the mountain.

Everyone was crying and hugging each other because they were very happy to see the sea. So they brought stones to the top and built a big cairn to remember the moment. Then they dedicated skins and shields, and the guide smashed apart the shields, and told the rest to do it too.

So the Greeks gave their guide presents such as a horse, money, and some of their rings. The guide showed them a place that they could stay for the night. Then, when night came, he went back to his own country.

The Frogs Want a King

The frogs were living happily with no one ruling them, and nobody bothered them.  But some of the frogs thought that this way of living wasn't right, and they wanted a king.  So they decided to go and ask Jove for the king that they wanted.  When they told him, he laughed and threw a huge log into their pond.  The frogs jumped out of their skins and ran away from the log.  Later, one of the bravest frogs jumped on it and started dancing.  They saw that the log wasn't harmful.  Then the frogs asked Jove for a better king that would actually rule over them, not just sit there.  Jove got angry and put a stork there in their pond that ate the frogs.


                                                         
                                                      Better no rule than cruel rule

Belling the Cat

     Long ago in a mouse hole, the mice were debating eagerly how to eliminate the danger of the cat, but they couldn't agree on anything. Then a young mouse stood up and said "The cat sneaks towards us to attack without us even knowing.  But I can fix this problem!  We just need to find a bell and hang it around the cat's neck, so when she's nearby, we'll hear the bell and be able to go back to our homes safely."  Everyone liked the idea, so they decided that they would do it.  But an old mouse said "Who is supposed to put the bell on the cat?"  Nobody said anything.  Then the old mouse said "It is very easy to propose impossible remedies."







Rewritten version of one of Aesop's fables
Original version copyright Aesop

The Sinking of the Titanic

First, twenty minutes before midnight an iceberg was spotted straight in the Titanic’s path.  William Murdoch, the first officer, commanded them to turn the ship left.  But it collided with the iceberg less than a minute after it was spotted.  The sharp side of the iceberg cut the right side of the ship open!

Then, a distress signal was launched at 12:50 AM.  Ships received the Titanic’s distress signal, but were too far away. The closest one, the Carpathia, responded but was four hours away.  The shipline official said, “We are confident that there will be no loss of life”.

Afterwards, they started launching the first lifeboats at 1:10 AM.  But the passengers were unwilling to leave the ship and a large amount said, “This ship cannot sink; it is only a question of waiting until another ship comes up and takes us off”.  Then, the deck started to sink, and more travelers left the Titanic.  Captain Smith went down with the ship, but he said to the officers, “You have done your duty, boys. Now every man for himself”.

After, water smashed the windows and poured into the bridge.  The Titanic’s front plunged under the water.  The back later sank at 2:20 AM.  But only one lifeboat returned for people stranded in the water.

Finally, the Carpathia arrived at 4:10 AM. It stayed picking up passengers until 8:50 AM, and then set out for New York.