Odysseus was a soldier brave,
A soldier brave was he;
He ruled the land of Ithaca,
Surrounded by the sea.
Now Paris captured Queen Helen,
And took her off to Troy;
He showed her off to the people there,
She was his pride and joy.
The Greeks assembled an army
To free her from her plight;
Their ships prepared, so they set sail,
All ready for the fight.
The men they rowed with aching arms
Across the choppy sea;
They rowed their ships for many days
To set Queen Helen free.
Odysseus and all his men,
At last arrived at Troy;
But they were met by huge strong walls,
And so they had no joy.
For ten long years they camped outside,
And they were getting mad;
They simply could not get inside,
A trick Odysseus had.
And so they made a wooden horse,
They made it out of sticks;
It moved around on lots of wheels,
It was a super trick.
Twelve soldiers hid inside the horse,
The rest went out to sea;
The Trojans came outside to look,
They all came out to see.
Sinon he was left behind,
He had to hide somewhere;
He was feeling very scared,
When Trojans found him there.
The Trojans saw him there in chains,
"What is this horse?" said they;
"It is a gift for you," he said,
"The Greeks have gone away."
The priest said that it was a trick,
At once a terrible sight;
Two serpents rose out of the sea
And gave them all a fright.
The serpents killed the priest and his sons,
The Trojans then believed,
The Greeks had really gone away,
So they were quite relieved.
They led the horse through the city walls,
Twelve Greeks were still inside;
The Trojans thought the war was won,
Their hearts were filled with pride.
They held a celebration,
It lasted all that day;
Odysseus and his soldiers brave
Inside the horse did stay.
When all of Troy had gone to sleep,
A beacon Sinon lit;
A signal to the Greeks at sea
To return in their fighting kit.
Odysseus' men then left the horse,
Although they were so few;
They opened up the city gates,
Greek soldiers marched straight through.
The mighty Greeks destroyed the place,
They burned it to the ground;
It really was a dreadful sight,
And full of awful sounds.
The Greeks had won the fight with Troy,
So they went back to sea;
They set off home to Ithaca,
They thought that they were free.
But they were caught in storms so fierce
That they were blown off course;
And driv'n to distant places strange
By the gods' gigantic force.
At last they came to an island green,
And saw a flock of sheep;
They followed them into a cave
And lay down for a sleep.
Inside the cave were jars of milk
And racks of yellow cheese;
The men were very hungry
And helped themselves to these.
The one-eyed Polyphemus
He trapped them in his cave:
He closed the entrance with a stone
The men were now enslaved.
Our hero brave Odysseus
Dreamed up another trick;
To blind the one-eyed Cyclops
With a red-hot pointed stick.
Odysseus told Polyphemus
That "No One" was his name;
This was all part of his trick,
It was part of his game.
They got the Cyclops drunk with wine,
Then heated up the stick;
They thrust it into his only eye,
It made him very sick.
He cried out to the other giants
That his sight had gone;
But when they asked him who had blinded
Him, he said, "No One!"
When morning came the blinded Cyclops
Opened up the cave,
To let his sheep go out to graze,
But keep the men enslaved.
Odysseus had another plan,
Under the sheep they were strapped;
Out into daylight they escaped,
No longer were they trapped.
The Cyclops hurled rocks at the ship,
Poseidon he implored,
To take revenge upon these men,
Great pain they had in store.
The men were quite exhausted,
And they all needed food;
They split up into two small groups
And searched throughout the woods.
One group came to a pleasant house
And Circe opened the door;
She gave the men a poisoned drink
Which turned them into boars.
Good Hermes warned Odysseus,
He told him the bad news;
He handed him a magic herb,
That he could safely use.
When Circe gave him the poisoned drink,
Odysseus raised his sword;
He made her promise to turn them back
And she gave him her word.
Sirens sing so very sweetly,
They can fly so high;
Odysseus wanted to hear them sing
But the crew did not know why.
Odysseus told them to tie him up,
And put wax in their ears;
He told them not to set him loose
No matter what their fears.
He heard the Sirens sing and screamed
To his men, "Set me free!"
"I must go to their island home,
For they are calling me."
The deafened men ignored his cries,
And at their oars did stay;
Odysseus' ship sailed safely on,
The song did fade away.
Odysseus knew where he had to go,
It was a dangerous place;
They rowed hard through the narrow gorge,
There was so little space.
They had to go round Charybdis,
Which was an angry whirlpool;
When suddenly Scylla came out,
And she was mad and cruel.
Huge Scylla had so many heads,
So many heads had she;
She took a man into each mouth,
And ate them for her tea.
Meanwhile they were stuck in the whirlpool,
Still spinning round and round;
Odysseus urged his men to row,
So they could reach some ground.
They made it to the open sea,
The sea began to foam;
Poseidon was at work again,
Odysseus was alone.
Now Nausicaa helped him,
She took him home to rest;
Her father sent him in a ship
To Ithaca at last.
Athene told Odysseus
That three men wanted his wife;
She dressed him in a beggar's suit
He went home in disguise.
Odysseus found his faithful dog,
He went up to his side;
But Argos was so very old
That sadly he just died.
He staggered into his own house,
The three men they were there;
He asked them for a crust of bread
But they just did not care.
Penelope told all the men,
The men just lounging there;
That they would have to pass a test
If they wanted to marry her.
"The task I have in mind," she said,
"Is to string Odysseus' bow,
And shoot an arrow straight and true
Through axes in a row."
The men said they could do the task,
The thing they did not know,
Was just how strong Odysseus was,
And just how strong his bow.
The first man could not string the bow,
And neither could the rest;
Penelope went up the stairs,
She did not look impressed.
The beggar said, "Now let me try,"
The room was filled with jeers;
But when he strung the bow in one,
Their laughter turned to tears.
He chose an arrow carefully,
He fixed it in the bow;
It shot straight through the row of axes,
What a splendid show!
The three men tried to attack him,
But at a dreadful cost;
In just a minute's fighting,
Their lives they all had lost.
He went and found Penelope,
Her sadness now was gone;
The twenty years were over,
Odysseus was home!
Odysseus was a soldier brave,
A soldier brave was he;
He ruled the land of Ithaca,
Surrounded by the sea.
Class 5C
Spring 2000