Writer of the Week

Diane Kruger as Helen of Troy

The Face That Launched a Thousand Ships

retold by Catherine (age 11)

After becoming a prince of Troy, Paris took a trip to Tyre. When he was returning to his homeland, Troy, he went through Greece. The fairest woman in the world, Helen, was in Greece, and Paris had come to retrieve her.

Helen was married to Menelaus, King of Sparta in Greece. When the prince of Troy laid eyes on the Queen of Sparta, he loved her for she was so beautiful. The goddess Aphrodite made Helen love Paris as well. Paris then took Helen back to Troy.

King Menelaus was angry, and sent word demanding his wife back. But the people of Troy refused. They wanted to brag about Helen, the fairest woman in the world, being in their city. King Priam and Hector, his son, knew that Helen and all her belongings should be returned. But the assembly of Troy would not give up Helen for any king.

Now Agamemnon, king of the great city of Mycenae, was deeply troubled at seeing his dearest brother, Menelaus, being flouted by the Trojans, and vowed to Menelaus that Troy would soon be no more. Agamemnon gathered all the kings and princes of Greece, and suggested, “We must unite all of our strength to take Troy! Upon achieving that, we will gain great treasures!” He also asked Odysseus and Achilles to join the war, and so they did.

Agamemnon’s team went to every city that was an ally of Troy, and took each one. After taking all these cities, they sailed for Troy. Year after year want by, and finally nine years had passed; the Greeks and the Trojans were still fighting. A plague had come during those years and killed more Greeks than the Trojans had. So the war went on, and on, and on; neither side had yet taken the other.