We dip into mythology, with Bertie’s telling of the tale of Troy. Paris, the handsome and fashionably dressed Prince of Troy, was asked to judge a divine beauty contest, and chose Aphrodite the Goddess of Love as the winner. As a reward, Aphrodite promised him the love of the most beautiful woman in the world, none other than Helen. Unfortunately, Helen was married to the King of Sparta. The scene was set for the great war between the Greeks and the Trojans. More stories about Troy will follow on this page.
We’ve written some more background to this story, for those doing school projects on Helen. You also may be interested in these ancient sources for the myth.
The story of Eris, the Goddess of Strife is known form the remaining 50 lines of the Kypria a lost epic of Greek Literature.
The Judgement of Paris was told by the Latin Poet Ovid in his Heroides XVI.
Homer has surprisingly little to say about the Judgment of Paris or the kidnapping of Helen, but we have drawn on his description of Helen and King Menelaus at home in the Odyssey Book IV.
Read by Natasha. Duration 13.5 Minutes.
A long time ago, in the age of heroes, when gods and goddesses still took a close interest in human affairs, a great wedding was planned between a famous warrior called Peleus and a lovely sea-nymph whose name was Thetis. All the kings and queens of the day were invited to the wedding feast, as well as all the immortal ones who live on Mount Olympus – all, that is, except for one. For no invitation was sent to Eris, the goddess of strife. Now strife is when people argue, and it was generally thought a bad idea to invite strife to a wedding party, in case she caused the happy couple to quarrel. Eris was extremely annoyed about being overlooked, and as revenge, she decided to play a spiteful trick on the wedding guests. Just as the celebrations were at their height, she appeared in the banqueting hall dressed as a serving girl. A silver plate was in her hands, and on it an apple on which she had written the words, “For the Fairest of them all”. This she placed on the table where the three loveliest goddesses were sitting . Their names were Hera, Athene and Aphrodite. Immediately that they saw the words on the apple, a quarrel broke out between the three goddesses. Hera said to the others, “I am the queen of all the immortal gods, and it follows that I must be far fairer than either of you two. So therefore the apple belongs to me”
“My dear Hera,” said Athene, “You might be queen, but I am the goddess of wisdom, and therefore I know absolutely everything that is worth knowing. You must believe me when I say that you are quite mistaken. Wisdom is beauty, and beauty is wisdom. They are one and the same thing. So therefore the apple belongs to me.
“Darlings,” purred Aphrodite. “It’s quite obvious that the apple belongs to me. I possess the power of love because, to put it quite simply, I am so much more beautiful than anybody else.”
The goddesses carried on arguing continuously for years after the wedding was over - for time means nothing to the immortal ones. The king of all the gods, mighty, thundering Zeus, became quite fed up with listening to their bickering. When, at length, he was at his whits end, he suggested to the three lovely goddesses that they resolve the question once and for all with a beauty contest. And that is exactly what they did.
The three goddesses agreed on one thing: that the most handsome and fashionably dressed mortal who walked on the face of the earth was Paris, Prince of Troy. They decided to surprise him. One day when Paris was out hunting on the foothills of Mount Ida, he discovered three lovely goddesses standing beneath a tree. In all his life he had never seen such dazzling beauty. For a moment, he stood amazed. Then Hermes, who was the winged messenger of the gods, flew up to Paris and spoke to him as follows.
“ Hail Paris! Prince of Magnificent Troy. Lord Zeus, the King of all the gods, sends you his greetings. He wishes to bestow upon you a great honour. He asks that you give this apple to the fairest goddess of them all.”
Paris, who normally had a keen eye for beauty, found it hard to choose. Each goddess was so beautiful. Hera had the most lovely milky white skin ever seen. Athene had the most dazzling, dancing eyes. And Aphrodite had the most charming smile. Which should he pick?
At length, seeing that he was at a loss, Hera said to him:
“Prince Paris. Give the apple to me, and I will give you the gift of great power.”
Athene, not to be outdone by this offer, said, “Prince Paris, Give the apple to me, and I will give you the gift of great wisdom.”
But Aphrodite laughed and said. “Paris my dear, Don’t you listen to those two silly goddesses. What fun would you have with power or wisdom? Give the apple to me, and I will give you a gift that is much more to your liking. I shall give you the love of the most beautiful woman on earth.”
Now Paris no longer found the choice so hard to make. He had long been in love with the most beautiful woman on earth, whose name was Helen. It so happened, that Helen was married to King Menelaus, and Paris had thought up until that moment, that the possibility of his winning her love, was beyond all hope. But, now, he understood that his chances could be greatly improved.
And so Paris gave the apple to Aphrodite. She giggled with delight, but the other two goddesses were furious and flew directly back to Mount Olympus in a great huff, where they complained long and bitterly to Zeus about the unfairness of the competition. Zeus had a dark feeling that there was trouble in store for human kind.
Paris set sail for the land of Sparta where Menelaus was king and lived with his beautiful queen Helen. Menelaus welcomed the famous prince into his palace, and while the two sat talking about the affairs of the world, Queen Helen came down from her perfumed room, looking as lovely as a goddess. The maid-servants brought her a seat and covered it with a soft lamb’s wool rug, and she sat before her silver work box. But before she began to embroider, she glanced over at the visiting prince, and questioned her husband:
“Shall I guess the name of this prince who has come to visit us? Let us see if I am right or wrong? I have heard tell of a prince from far-off Troy who is famous the world over for his looks and fashionable style. Is it he, Paris, Prince of Troy who has come to stay with us?”
“My dear wife,” said Menelaus, “As always, you are quite right. It is indeed, Paris, Prince of Troy who is paying us the honour of his visit.”
And Paris acknowledged queen Helen with a nod of his head.
At dinner that night, Helen added a special potion into the wine ,so that anyone who drank it would forget all his cares, and be happy for the rest of the evening. They feasted and made merry, and while Menelaus was busy laughing and joking with one of his generals, Paris spoke softly to Helen.
“Most beautiful queen,” he said, “I beg you, meet me tonight in the orchard beneath the palace walls, and we shall sail away together in my ship, and head directly for Troy, the most magnificent city in all the world.”
And because the goddess of love, Aphrodite, had wished it so, Helen could not help herself, and agreed to his suggestion.
When King Menelaus awoke in the morning, and he discovered that his guest and his wife had run away together, he flew into a rage, kicking the furniture and punching the walls of his chamber. He swore before all the Gods that that his revenge would be truly terrible. And so he went to see his elder brother, King Agamemnon of Argos, and spoke to him as follows:
“My dear brother. The honour of our family has been besmirched by this foreign peacock, this perfumed playboy, this prancing prince of Troy. Let us gather together all the kings of Greece and combine our armies into the greatest force that has ever been seen since the dawn of history. And let us sail to the far off city of Troy, and teach Prince Paris some manners”
But Agamemnon was wise, and he knew that it is always a terrible mistake to rush headlong into conflict. He suggested first that they send an ambassador to Troy to request the return of Queen Helen, whom he was sure had been abducted against her will. He knew that Paris’s father, King Priam of Troy was a good man, and we was sure that he would order his son to release her. And so they sent a message to Troy in the name of peace and reconciliation, but Helen did not wish to go home, and Prince Paris refused to return the lovely Queen to her husband, saying that they had been brought together by the Goddess of Love, Aphrodite herself.
And so that meant War. King Agamemnon, the brother of the wronged Menelaus, summoned all the Kings of Greece and prepared a navy of a thousand ships, the greatest military force to ever set sail. And that is the story of how Great war between the Greeks and the Trojans was started by Prince Paris and Queen Helen.
By Storynory
Children who enjoy getting an education in music may have life-long interests in the subject they should pursue.
93 Comments
it’s very amazing…. il ike this story so much….
i am doing an assinment on this but i harly found any information
Madi, if you have any questions for your assignment about Helen of Troy, put them in a comment and we will do our best to help.
Beautifully read and fantastic accents - I’ll definately be using this site with my primary school children. Some pictures would be great to compliment it too.
I very much liked this story..it was very fabulous i wish i could have heard more..for i am a student learning about Troy and Helen the most beautiful woman in the world.Who had stole the heart away from the Trojan prince Paris..and who had started the most greatest war ever.
i like the story but i think there should be more detail and more at the end.I’m pretty sure that wasn’t the end of the story. There should be details from the battle of paris and menelous. How helen felt when she returned.
Amy, The next in the series is here, and there will be more: http://storynory.com/category/greek-myths/
As for how Menelaus felt when Helen returned, Homer seems to show them living in domestic bliss in the Odyssey Book IV. This seems rather incredible to us.
I found this whole idea absolutely fascinating. I am taking a humanities class on the Trojan War and am citing your company as an example of material available for teaching children about the Trojan War. Thank you for recording education material and not just fun stories.
I thin it is cool and all but I still dont know what the power is and i need it for my project in my class.
I think It is cool and all but I need some more info about the power so help me now.
Star you are cheating.
Shut up Rebecca star can cheat if she wants to.
Star, Cheating or no cheating, I’m not sure what you mean by “The Power”. Can you give us some context?
i love this story but like Star i need some more info for a project what sight do you think i should go on to get info on Helen of troy? i love this story i am learning about theese people and the way you write it is much more ecxiting then it is at SCHOOL! (jk)
Its fun and interesting man i thout that was inpossible! jk. thanks for making it fun to Read
Specially for Star, Charger Chick, Rosa, Rebecca, and the others, here is some more background to Helen.
http://storynory.com/2006/12/01/background-to-helen-of-troy/
thanks for the extra information it helped alot
thanks that information helped me alot i finished my project and i learned some cool stuff hey Star i think i know you from school!
dear bertie do you have any other web sites on other people?
thanks for the information it halped alot and i learned some great stuff hey bertie do you have any other sites about other people!
Charger, I’m not sure what you mean by “other people”… do you mean in mythology or stories? If you can be a bit more specific, I’ll see if we can help.
i mean mytholigy people and gods and goddesses like Zues or aphradity
What a great idea! I am an english learner and it is exactly what I have been looking to improve listening, and reading comprehension.. thanks god… Thanks for this
Exuseme. But please i have a coment. Is there another story after the wooden horse? i know there is the siclops cave but is there more after that? I really like this story and you all out there should listen to it because it is amazing it truely is.:)
answere please if you can.
Hello Aline, There WILL be another story, but I’m afraid we haven’t done it yet. We will be doing the return of Odysseus to his home the island of rocky Ithaca, and how he sees off the suitors who are after his wife, Penelope. Sorry, I can’t quite say when it will be yet.
thanks thats all i wantd to know.
i am doing a report on Aphrodite and this stoy did not give more info. i have herd this story but i need more info!!!!!!
aaaaaaaa i had latin prep but now, i am free! because of this website! thank you people who made this!
leve poor Bertie alone! you need to put your efort in to school prodjects!
Cant you at least do that!!!
:( 
Look on the internet and try to find something about that Aphrodite!!!!! Cant you see that you got to work with your mind not Berties!!!
I heard that Helen was trapped in a castle? I didn’t get that info!
Hi Bertie .
Please tell me when are you going 2 finish this story as i knoe it is notr finid=shed
I know im 8 but i really want to find out if helen and Prince Paris get married or if Prince Paris dies? Bertie where can i find out?
Hello Cassandra and Sheryl, the story continues, and the chapters are filed under Greek Myths.
http://storynory.com/category/greek-myths/
…Cassandra… your name crops up in the history of Troy by the way.
Bertie
Hi, this was a really nice story, My brother enjoyed it!!
this story is very nice….i have this storybook but never liked to read it but this storynory.com told me the whole story but it should be in a litle detail…………..but natasha speaks very well … keep it up.
Your idea is splendid and generous. I suppose all the children of the world will always be grateful to you, because of the good taste shown in choosing the stories, in illustrating them and in the quality of sound and narrators
Hi, this was a really nice story, My brother enjoyed it!!
i have a question prince bertie - how do you send your stories plus im doing a report on greek stories but i dont no which one to choose. can you help me
Hello Naomi,
There are so many great Greek stories, it’s hard to say. If you like romantic stories, then I think Helen and Paris, if you like exciting ones then I think The Cyclops Cave.
As to how to send our stories, an easy way is to just email the web address in window at the top of the web page. The one that begins http://
Hope this helps,
Bye for now @
hi bertie this is sarah.i was wondering is it aginst the law if i record this story ad take it to school for a project?please answer?
Hi Sarah,
We love people to take our stories to school, so please do. We want as many people as possible to hear them.
The main thing we ask in our copyright notice is for people not to sell recordings of our stories for money - but sharing them with friends is great.
Thanks for asking !
Bertie
Dear,
This is is a wonderful stoy.I requst you to suggust the auther of the book.This type of story books names and authers.
Thanking You
Sachin, Glad you like Helen of Troy. Bertie writes the Greek myths especially for Storynory, but of course they are based on Homer.
stop stories about bertie for two minutes
i did not like it because there was no info. i am doing an essay on helen and this didn’t help me very much
i like youuuuuuuuuuu?????@
bertie why are you a frog
I’ve heard better …but it gets a smiley face
This was okay. I’ve heard better.
I cant believe Helen went with Paris.I dont like Paris!
hry do not play
All stories are narrated by Natasha???
All stories are narrated by Natasha???
Hi Anne,
Yes, Natasha is our one and only. It’s just possible, that if you listen very hard to one or two stories, you will hear a voice of somebody called Rob, but only for a few sentences.
l really like this story but don’t like that it is poem form Helen Started the war
Nice story - if you want to learn more about Troy, Achilles and other Greek Myths go to your local library and get a reference book on the subject. When you listen again to the stories you’ll enjoy them so much more when you get to know the characters better!
I am doing an assignment also, for PEP (it’s kind of an extra class for the kids who are not having a challenge in school). I reall enjoyed the story, but it wasn’t quite what I was looking for. Do you know where I can get more info??
thanks
coco
Well, I don’t have a library card that’s valid right now, but that was a brilliant suggestion, Martin!
I’ll have to talk to mom and dad about reimbursing our library cards.
I think that you should have told more detail about what Helen was feeling; frightened? I am a 6th grader and i am doing a project. We have to dress up as a god or godess and talk about yourself. we pretend to be frozen and then once someone presses a button, we come to life and tell our story as if we were that person. I chose Helen and i am stuck on what to say.
Hi Mallory
It sounds like a really interesting project. Some things you might think about:
Maybe Helen was in love with Paris, but she realised later that she had been wrong to run away with him.
Perhaps Helen felt guilty because she was one of the causes of the war.
She probably didn’t realise that her actions would lead to so many deaths in battle.
Hope this helps you.
I am doing an assiment on aphrodite and you dont have any stories of her well i really liked this on the beginning help thanks but you kinda need more stories cause thease do really help.:)
I am a 7th greader doing a project on greek mytholigy and i am doing it on ahprodite and i really wanted a storie about her but the begiing of this storie helped a little but i wnt to now what happend to her hafter she got the goldon apple like did she go and help get helen and on the jurney there ????
P.S.
sorry about the spelling not a great speller!!!
Hey i am a 7th greader doing a project on greek mytholigy and i am doing it on ahprodite and i really wanted a storie about her but the begiing of this storie helped a little but i wnt to now what happend to her hafter she got the goldon apple like did she go and help get helen and on the jurney there ????
P.S.
sorry about the spelling not a great speller!!!
OMG…LIKE TOTALLY DA KOOL.!!!LOLBUT KOOL CUZ I UNNDERSTAND EVRY SINGLE WORD.. BA DA WAY SORRY BOUYT MA SPELLING…
I’m doing an essay on this but I don’t really have all the information I need….
jaime le taozzzz lol
Dear Bertie,
Please answer my question. I am in the fourth grade and I am really into Greek Mythology. I am not trying to brag but from what I know, I am the most knowledgable on Greek Mythology in my class. Correction. The most in my school. I was wondering if you could make a few more stories on Greek Mythology. I have read alot of stories on Greek Mythology and there are some pretty awsome stories on Greek Mythology. If you cant come up with any stories, write me back and I will give you a few suggestions or facts. Sorry if I took up any of your really good writers space. Just please write back in the time of a week. Bye!
P.S.
Some of your times are not correct.
Dear Bertie,
Ithas been mre than a week. Please answer me. Ihave to leave to go somewher and I will not be able to go on the computer anymore. Yes, I know tha you are on the computer but, I just do it online if you please sir. So just answer me sometime soon because then, oh I can’t tell you what will happen. Sobbing. . . . . . .
Dear Sarah
I’m really sorry I didn’t answer your comment before. I did read it with interest. I think it’s fabulous that you are interested in Greek myths. We must get round to doing that last episode of Odysseus soon, and then we can do some of the other great myths, like the Minotaur or the Golden Fleece. If you have any suggestions, please let me know.
Dear Bertie,
I was being a pest. Maybe you could do a story on when Hera asked Semele, the mother of Dionyus, to ask Zeus to show himself in all his splendor. Then continue the rest of Dionyus’s life and whom he married. Or, you could do it about when Gaia, the earth married Uranus and gave birth to the hundred hander, cyclops, titans, and the titanesses. Oh, and my dad told me the trip was canceled. Sorry. If I had known sooner I wouldn’t have made such a fuss. I have one more suggestion. You could do a story about how and where Artemis and Apollo were born. Sorry I was such a pest. TTYL or TTFN.
Hi Sarah
Super-thanks for the suggestions! You’ll have to be a bit patient though, because we only do one story a week, and we have to cater to all tastes, but we will certainly do a few more myths soon.
TTFN !
Dear Bertie,
Thanks alot for telling me about trying to do more Greek Myths. I will be patient. I know it would be hard to run a story-telling company and still take comments. I hope everything will be ready soon. I will be patient. Thanks for reading my suggestions. Well bye.
The Story was really enjoyable, I learned alot from this Story and there were intresting thing, Hope it will take a bit quicker it would have been perfect, anyway it was ok Bye!!
its way too long
I am not the Sarah who said it was to long. I am the Sarah who said alot about Greek Mthology and told Bertie story ideas. And Bertie, I am just curious. WHEN ARE WE GOING TO DO MORE GREEK MYTHOLOGY STORIES?!!? Just curious. TTFN!
Dear Sarah A,
You are absolutely right to remind me. This week we are going to do a piece about St. Patrick - to get ready for 17th of March which is his day… and so let me promise you that we will do the last part of the Odyssey either on the 16th or the 23rd of March?…. Then we will be free to look at some of the other myths.
this is a messed up story
I red this story in my history book and its so intresting I cant beleve Paris dies….
Dear Betie,
It is the 22 of March so I am just reminding you about you promise. But it I don’t see it by 30th I am going to be mad. I have been waiting for a lon time. Bye. And no more Mr. nie guy, ye hear? Bye-bye.
I am just correcting some errors from last time. After but it is not it but if. And waiting for a long time. And last, no more Mr. nice guy. I mean it.
Dear Sarah
You are quite right. Tempus Fugit !
I feel very guilty about not finishing the Odyssey. The “homecoming” extends over lots of the chapters of the original, and it’s a bigger job than I thought to write it into an audio story.
I do have plans for other Greek myths, including the Minotaur and Jason and the Argonauts. Both are really interesting because they are tied in with history and famous Greek plays.
If you send an email to bertie@storynory I will keep you informed and send you texts.
Dear Bertie,
I am just letting you know my mothers email I will use: drmalvi@hotmail.com. Bye!
i love storys this is my fav
this story is great i love this website i would love to know when your next story is coming
it was so cool and help me a lot with social studies!!
the story is exciting and interesting
good
it was good but a little long
I think this story was great but also a little boring because it was so long =P
I needed who she married.
gee~~what a great story.
the story is told even over a century.