Greek Mythology: Trojan Horse

After fighting for ten long years, neither the Greeks nor the Trojans seemed to be able to win the battle, until one of the Greek kings, Odysseus of Ithaca, had an idea.

"Build a big wooden horse on wheels," he said, "big enough for a bunch of Greek soldiers to hide inside it." So the Greeks did. Then the Greeks all pretended to sail home (except the ones hiding inside the horse!). They acted like they had given up and left. But in truth, they hid just around the corner.

Soon the Trojans found the horse. "What is it?" they asked each other. Nobody knew. (The Greek soldiers hiding inside kept very quiet). Then they found a Greek soldier hiding nearby. He said (though this was part of the trick) that the other Greeks hated him and they had left him behind. So the Trojans asked him what the horse was for. He said it was an offering to Athena.

Well, the Trojans did not want to upset Athena either, so they rolled the big horse into the city of Troy. It was so big it would not go through the gate, and they had to tear down a piece of the city wall to get it in. They left it at the temple of Athena, and then the Trojans had a big party to celebrate the end of the war. All the while, the Greek soldiers inside the horse kept very quiet and still.

Finally, after the great celebration of the end of the war, everyone fell asleep, and NOW the Greek soldiers came out of the Trojan Horse and killed the guards on the walls. They signalled to the other Greeks to come attack Troy. They could get in now because the walls were torn down. There was a big battle and the Greeks won. All the Trojan men were killed, and all the women and children were taken back to Greece as slaves.

Greek Mythology: Echo and Narcissus

The ancient Greeks have many interesting myths and legends. I'll add on to the list as and when I come across them:

Echo and Narcissus



In Greek mythology Echo was a wood nymph who loved a youth by the name of Narcissus. He was a beautiful creature loved by many but Narcissus loved no one. He enjoyed attention, praise and envy. In Narcissus' eyes nobody matched him and as such he considered none were worthy of him.

Echo's passion for Narcissus was equaled only by her passion for talking as she always had to have the last word. One day she enabled the escape of the goddess Juno's adulterous husband by engaging Juno in conversation. On finding out Echo's treachery Juno cursed Echo by removing her voice with the exception that she could only speak that which was spoken to her.

Echo often waited in the woods to see Narcissus hoping for a chance to be noticed. One day as she lingered in the bushes he heard her footsteps and called out “Who's here?” Echo replied “Here!” Narcissus called again "Come", Echo replied "Come!". Narcissus called once more “Why do you shun me?... Let us join one another.” Echo was overjoyed that Narcissus had asked her to join him. She longed to tell him who she was and of all the love she had for him in her heart but she could not speak. She ran towards him and threw herself upon him.

Narcissus became angry “Hands off! I would rather die than you should have me!” and threw Echo to the ground. Echo left the woods a ruin, her heart broken. Ashamed she ran away to live in the mountains yearning for a love that would never be returned. The grief killed her. Her body became one with the mountain stone. All that remained was her voice which replied in kind when others spoke.

Narcissus continued to attract many nymphs all of whom he briefly entertained before scorning and refusing them. The gods grew tired of his behaviour and cursed Narcissus. They wanted him to know what it felt like to love and never be loved. They made it so there was only one whom he would love, someone who was not real and could never love him back.

One day whilst out enjoying the sunshine Narcissus came upon a pool of water. As he gazed into it he caught a glimpse of what he thought was a beautiful water spirit. He did not recognise his own reflection and was immediately enamoured. Narcissus bent down his head to kiss the vision. As he did so the reflection mimicked his actions. Taking this as a sign of reciprocation Narcissus reached into the pool to draw the water spirit to him. The water displaced and the vision was gone. He panicked, where had his love gone? When the water became calm the water spirit returned. “Why, beautiful being, do you shun me? Surely my face is not one to repel you. The nymphs love me, and you yourself look not indifferent upon me. When I stretch forth my arms you do the same; and you smile upon me and answer my beckonings with the like.” Again he reached out and again his love disappeared. Frightened to touch the water Narcissus lay still by the pool gazing in to the eyes of his vision.

He cried in frustration. As he did so Echo also cried. He did not move, he did not eat or drink, he only suffered. As he pined he became gaunt loosing his beauty. The nymphs that loved him pleaded with him to come away from the pool. As they did so Echo also pleaded with him. He was transfixed; he wanted to stay there forever. Narcissus like Echo died with grief. His body disappeared and where his body once lay a flower grew in it's place. The nymphs mourned his death and as they mourned Echo also mourned.

A narcissistic person is someone who only has eyes for himself.

We are Singapore

Remember I talked about the National Day song "There was a time when people said that Singapore won't make it"?

The title is "We are Singapore".

To watch the MTV and listen to the song, click here.

Pointers for your composition writing

I have marked your latest compositions that some of you submitted.

There are still some common mistakes present in the scripts. Do avoid them in your Paper 1 exam:

1) 'Me and my friend' or 'I and my friend' is wrong.
Correct structure: My friend and I

2) Paragraph your story
Without paragraphs, you will be marked one band down. Please remember to paragraph it.

3) Check your tense. A written story is usually in PAST tense. Please read through your story to check if you have changed all the verbs to past tense, where necessary.
Please read through the "Past tense and Past Particle" worksheet you have done and filed in your Worksheet and Revision Papers File.

4) Use a present tense after the word 'to'
Eg. to go, to eat, to run, to buy, to sleep, to dance, to sing

5) Be specific
Name the shopping centre, the shop, your friend you include in your story
Instead of writing 'We went to the shopping centre to do some shopping.", write "We went to Northpoint Shopping Centre to do some shopping."
Instead of writing 'My friend and I were hungry.', write 'My friend, Alice, and I were hungry.'

6) Clothes shop is called a 'boutique'. Bread shop or cake shop is called a 'confectionery'. Spectacles shop is called an 'optical shop'.

7) A policeman cannot send the criminal to jail. He can only take him to the police station.

Term 4 Week 5 Spelling List

Theme: Fire

Page No.: 82 - 84

1) frantic screams

2) chaos broke out

4) arson

6) extinguish the flames

10) converged on the scene

13) defying all attempts

15) devastating

20) worth salvaging

21) reduced vast swathes

24) whirled in all directions

New Mock Test Dates

Maths - 13 Oct, Wednesday

Science - 14 Oct, Thursday

English - 15 Oct, Friday

SSM ( Maths) - 12 Oct, Tuesday (During Math Periods)

Term 4 Week 4 Spelling

Theme: Burglary / Theft / Murder

Page numbers: 80, 81, 86

2) stood rooted to the spot

3) took to his heels

4) rummaged through

1) whizzed to the crime scene

2) silhouette

5) series of grisly murders

6) gruesome tale

7) brutal

8) started ... enquiry

10) ghastly details

It will be conducted on next Monday, 11 October.