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Vol. 21 : Philoctetes

Achilles was very angry with Agamemnon.

"How dare he use my name to bring his daughter here," he thought. "I will make him regret this."

But the fleet was already setting sail, and Achilles put aside his anger and prepared to leave Aulis as well.

The winds were favorable and the Greek fleet made good progress toward Troy. Soon they arrived at a small island, where there was a temple. A group of the Greeks went to make sacrifices to the gods. Among them was the great archer Philoctetes.

"Let us do this quickly and move on," he said impatiently.

"Do not speak so disrespectfully toward the gods," warned Odysseus.

But Philoctetes would not listen and he hurried forward. Apollo saw this, and sent a snake to punish Philoctetes for his disrespect, and as he entered the temple, the snake bit him on the foot. Philoctetes cried out in pain. The others came running.

"Look," said Odysseus. "There is poison dripping from the wound. Take him to the healers now."

They carried him back. The healers tried to cure him, but whatever they did, the wound would not heal. It continued to drip poison and give off a foul smell. Philoctetes was in agony.

"Philoctetes is a good man," said Agamemnon, listening to Philoctetes' groans. "I do not want to do this, but if we are going to reach Troy without the gods turning against us, we must leave him behind. He will bring us bad luck."

So, Odysseus and some of the men waited until Philoctetes fell asleep. Then they put him on a ship and took him quietly to another island where they left him with some food.

"Give him his bow and arrows too," said Odysseus. "He can use them to hunt. It is a pity, it is the bow of Herakles himself."

Apollo, the protector of Troy, watched them sail away.

"Fools," he said to himself. "Little do they know that Troy will not fall without that bow."