Then Priam spake. “Go, my people, gather wood for the burial, and fear not any ambush of the Greeks, for Achilles promised that he would stay the war until the twelfth day should come.”
So for nine days the people gathered much wood, and on the tenth they laid Hector upon the pile, and lit fire beneath it. And when it was burnt they quenched the embers with wine. Then his brethren and comrades gathered together the white bones, and laid them in a chest of gold; and this they covered with purple robes and put in a great coffin, and laid upon it stones many and great. And over all they raised a mighty mound; and all the while the watchers watched, lest the Greeks should arise and slay them. Last of all was a great feast held in the palace of King Priam.
So they buried Hector, the tamer of horses.
For nine long years the Greeks besieged Troy, but for all their plans and manœuvres the city held out against them. They pillaged and overran the neighboring towns but Troy stood fast.
Never were brave men pitted against a braver enemy. The lives of many heroes were sacrificed, Hector’s, the greatest of the Trojan champions, and the valiant Achilles among them, at whose loss the Greeks almost despaired. Force had failed. Their leader had fallen. They must outwit their enemy. With the aid of Ulysses they worked out an admirable plan.
Down came the tents of the main body of the army, there was clatter and jangle of departure and the Greeks swept down the slope to the sea and their ships, as though homeward bound. Afloat, they soon sailed out of sight behind a neighboring island and came to anchor.
The remainder of the army set to work with a will to build a gigantic wooden horse, his sides planked with pine, a huge, hollow horse, as full of peek holes as a colander and with ample room for a band of men to lie hidden within. When it was finished, Ulysses, Menelaus, Pyrrhus and a company of armed warriors entered the horse by means of a secret door and the remainder of the Grecian army sailed away.
On seeing them depart, the Trojans believed the Greeks had at last lost heart, and, with victorious, headlong delight they burst through the gates and swarmed over the plain into the abandoned camp. Looming down on them stood the great horse. Approaching it first with caution, they soon grew bolder and youths and maidens joined hands and danced around it. Many urged that it be drawn into the city. Others were afraid and said, “Burn it, sink it into the sea.” The priest Laocoön begged them to have nothing to do with it. “Are you mad? Have you not learned enough of Grecian fraud to be on your guard against it? For my part, I fear the Greeks even when they offer gifts.” With that he threw his great spear at the horse’s side, which gave forth a hollow sound.
