The night of the horse
A newspaper ran a short story competition on famous tales from history.
This is a story one of the students sent in.
The soldier came down the stairs—two at a time. ‘captain, they’ve gone,’ he cried. ‘They’ve disappeared—all of them. The plain is…’ But the captain of the guards was no longer listening. He was going up the stairs—three at a time.
Seconds later, the captain stood on the high wall of the city of Tory. He looked down at the empty plain and, beyond it, at the empty sea. ‘they’ve gone and we’ve won,’ he said. ‘The Greeks have tried for ten years to capture our city. Now they’ve sailed away. And they’ve taken every thing with them.’
‘Not everything, sir,’ the solider said. ‘They’ve left their horse.’ Outside the main gates of the city stood a huge horse made of wood.
‘Ah, yes,’ the captain said, ‘that wooden horse. It is so big that they couldn’t take it with them. Well, it’s ours now. Get some help and pull it into the city. That won’t be too difficult. It’s on wheels.’
‘But why is it on wheels?’ The solider asked. ‘I think that maybe the Greeks want us to…’
The captain interrupted him. ‘You are a soldier,’ he said. ‘You don’t have to think. You have to obey orders, and I’m giving you one now. move that horse.’ And so the Trojans dragged it into the city with ropes.
That night, in the main square of the city, all the citizens of Tory celebrated. They sang and danced around the horse, and made jokes about their enemies, the stupid Greeks. Then the Trojans made sure all the gates of the city were securely locked, and they all went to sleep, including the gate guards.
By midnight, the square was empty, except for the giant horse. The six Greek soldiers waited for another hour, to be sure. Then, very quickly, they opened the secret door in the side of the horse and climbed out.
No guards stopped them as they opened the main gates. Outside stood the Greek army. It had return in the darkness when the citizens celebrate inside.
Now the army entered the city. The Greeks seized the captain and dragged him away. For ten years, they could not capture the city by fighting. In one night, they succeeded in capturing it by a trick.
1.The plain is _______________________________.
2.I think that maybe the Greeks want us to ____________________________.
3.Did the Greeks take everything with them?
4.Say something about the horse.
5.How could Trojans pull the horse into the city?