çeviri ve ingilizce öyküler

"O set the sails, for Troy, for Troy is fallen,
And Helen cometh home;
O set the sails, and all the Phryigian winds
Breathe us across the foam!
O set the sails unto the golden West!
It is o'er, the bitter strife.
At the last the father cometh to the son,
And the husband to the wife."

Stephen Phillips

PARIS, the son of Priam King of Troy, carried off to his father’s royal city Helen, the wife of Menelaus, King of Sparta, his friend and host. To avenge this wrong and to rescue Helen, Menelaus and the rest of the chiefs of the Grecian states banded together and sailed for Troy. For ten years they laid siege to the strong-walled city, and during that time many deeds of valour were done by Greek and Trojan chieftains.

At last the Greeks grew weary of the tedious war, and resolved to and it if they could by a stratagem. With the help of the goddess Minerva they built a wooden horse of monstrous size, and within its hollow sides they hid a number of picked warriors armed and ready for the fray. Then they sailed away as if for home, but when they reached the remoter shore of the Isle of Tenedos, which lay within sight of Troy, they hid their ships from sight and waited the issue of their deeply-laid plot.

The Trojans, cooped within their walls so long, unbarred their gates and issued in a throng like swarming bees. In huge delight they saw the Grecian camp deserted, and visited the now empty tents of the departed heroes. With wondering eyes they gazed upon the great wooden horse, and one of them proposed that the ramparts of the city should be broken down in order to admit the fabric; but others, more cautious, said that it ought rather to be destroyed either by fire or by being cast into the sea; at least, said one, they might bore the hollow sides of the monstrous beast and find out what was within.

Then there came running from the city one named Laocoon, followed by a numerous crowd. "O wretched countrymen," he cried, "what madness possesses you? Think you the Grecians are gone from your coasts? Are the wiles of Ulysses no better known to you? This hollow fabric either encloses a party of our foes or it is an engine raised above the town to overlook the walls, and then to batter them down. Some harm to us it is surely intended to accomplish, either by fraud or force. Trust not the Grecian gift nor admit the horse within our walls." As he finished speaking he flung his spear against the steed, and, hissing through the air, it pierced the yielding planks of jointed wood and stood trembling in the body of the monster. The sides returned a rattling sound, and groans came from within. But the Trojans marked them not, fated as they were to fall a prey to the Grecians.

Meanwhile the Trojan shepherds had brought before their King a Greek whom they had found and taken captive. The man stood unarmed and trembling, staring and rolling his haggard eyes around. "Alas!" he cried, "what fate awaits a wretched fugitive, scorned by his foes and forsaken by his friends?" So he spoke, and, speaking, sighed, and the passion of his Trojan captors changed to pity for his woes. They spoke words of cheer to him, and urged him to tell them who he was and whence he came.

The man’s fears for a moment forsook him, and he said: "Whatever happens, my words shall be sincere. Greece is my country, Sinon is my name. Assuage your thirst of blood and strike the blow." Once more he trembled in all his limbs, and with faltering tongue he told his story.

"The Greeks, wearied with an unsuccessful war, resolved some time ago to raise the siege and leave the town, but the wintry seas and southern winds prevented them. Moreover, the signs of the heavens dismayed them—flaming meteors hung in the air and thunders rattled through a cloudless sky. With fearful hearts their leaders sought the gods, and were told that a human sacrifice was required of them if they wished for a safe return to their homes. The news soon spread among the people, and each with fear believed himself to be the one ordained to die.

"Calchas the soothsayer was consulted, and after much urging he unwillingly said that I was the man chosen by the angry gods for death. The others praised the sentence, and made ready to carry it out. But, having broken my bonds I fled and lay in hiding till they sailed away. And now what remains for me, wretched man that I am?"

The captive’s story moved the Trojans with fresh pity. The King ordered his fetters to be unbound, and said to him: "Dismiss thy fears. Forget the Greeks. But tell me truly, was it for force or guile, or for some religious purpose, that the Grecians raised this monster?"

"Ye lamps of heaven," replied the captive, lifting high his hands, "and all ye powers on high, forgive me for revealing the purpose of my countrymen. It was to gain the favor of the goddess of Minerva that we built this wondrous frame, making it too lofty to pass through your gates, lest the blessing it may bring from the goddess should not be ours, but yours. For if it be taken the walls of Troy the Greeks will one day bow before the Trojans."

Then a strange and terrible thing happened which filled the breasts of the Trojans with dismay. Laocoon, the priest of Neptune, the sea-god, had offered on the shore an ox as a sacrifice, when, looking towards the sea, the people saw two serpents ranked abreast sweep towards them across the water, lifting their flaming crests on high. Soon they reached the shore, and quickly moved across the plain, brandishing their forked tongues and licking their hissing jaws, which spluttered flame.

The crowd fled amazed, and the monsters moved towards Laocoon and his children. Quickly they wound themselves round the tenders bodies of the boys, and then the father, running to their help, was likewise encircled by their loathsome bodies, and with his children crushed to death. Their work completed, the serpents moved towards the wooden horse and reclined at its feet, having wreaked the vengeance of the goddess on the man who dared to fling his spear at her sacred tower.

Then the people demanded that the horse should be brought within the city walls, and that offerings should be made to the offended goddess. At once spacious breach was made in the rampart; some brought levers, others wheels for fitting to the horse’s feet, others hauled the unwieldy beast along with ropes, and at length by united efforts it was brought within the wall. Boys crowned with chaplets and bands of maidens danced around, while the monster was dragged through the breach and well within the city’s bounds, and so great was the zeal and excitement of the people that not even the clashing sounds of armour and groans of men which came from within were marked by them.

The rejoicings lasted throughout the day, and when night had fallen the Trojans, now secure from foes, laid themselves down to rest, setting no guards and keeping no watch. Meanwhile the Greeks once more embarked, sailed back from Tenedos, and sought again the Trojan shores. Then Sinon the deceiver unlocked the side of the wooden horse and released the Grecian warriors, joyful to find their long confinement ended. They quickly slid down the cable to the ground, among them the injured Menelaus and Ulysses, the crafty ruler of Ithaca—

"A mighty spearsman and a seaman wise,
 A hunter, and at need a lord of lies."

The rest is soon told. The gates were opened to the waiting Greeks, and the town, oppressed with sleep and wine, surprised and taken. So