Long, long ago, Priam and his wife, Hecuba, were king and queen of Troy. They had several children, including the hero Hector, and twins, a boy named Helenus and a girl named Cassandra. ゅЖWξwWｗ.ｆＡＩＲＹ-TALＥ。iｎｆo∵の◎èキr

Cassandra was so beautiful that people compared her to the goddess Aphrodite. As she grew older, many young men fell in love with her. And then one of the gods saw her, and her life changed forever.

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Apollo, son of Zeus and Leto, was said to be the ideal of male beauty, and was the god of poetry and music. The moment he saw Cassandra, he knew he must win her love. To do this, Apollo offered Cassandra an extraordinary gift, that of prophecy, the ability to know the future, if in return she would love him. ∏Ｗww．ｆａＩｒＹ-ＴAlＥ。ＩnfoЦY

Hearing Apollo's offer, Cassandra imagined the glory of such a power, and so she agreed to the god's bargain.

Alas, once Apollo had given her the power to see the future, she broke her word to him. She ignored the truth she ought to have known 一 that breaking a promise to a god would bring only heartache.

And that is what happened. Though Apollo did not take away Cassandra's ability to see the future, once she turned her back on him and refused to love him, he added to her prophetic powers a terrible curse.

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"Cassandra, you will always know the future," he said, "but you shall be doomed to despair. No matter that your predictions will always be true, no one will ever believe you." ※ЩˇㄋRWＷＷ.ＦAIＲｙ-ｔａle.iＮｆoをJ

After that, Cassandra always saw clearly what would happen in the future; she knew the land of Troy would be destroyed and that her brother Hector would be killed. For years she tried to warn her people, but no one ever believed her predictions. Hearing her prophecies, people laughed and called the poor girl mad. Apollo's curse had worked its magic. Оxy々낱WWｗ．ＦaIrY－ｔＡle．ｉnｆｏОぅィ

The battles between the Greeks and Trojans were endless, and as the war dragged on, Cassandra tried to warn her people.

So it was that clever Odysseus came up with a plan to overtake Troy at long last. He ordered a carpenter to build a large wooden horse but to leave the horse hollow inside, so that when the statue was finished, Greek warriors could hide inside. WＷｗ。ＦAiｒy－tａＬＥ。INＦｏゎθИホク

The Greeks tricked the Trojans by burning their camp outside of Troy and sailing away to hide on a nearby island. Only one Greek stayed behind, Sinon, who persuaded the Trojans that the Greeks had left the horse as an offering to the goddess Athena and to take it inside the city walls.

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The Trojans admired the beautiful horse, but Cassandra tried with all her heart to warn the Trojans not to believe Sinon's words. "You must not bring this horse inside our walls," she cried, but again the Trojans ignored her. They dragged the horse inside.

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That night, after all the Trojans were asleep, Sinon set free the warriors hidden inside the horse, and they killed the guards and opened the city gates, letting in the Greek soldiers who had returned silently from the island in their boats. They slaughtered the Trojans, including the great king Priam, and set the city on fire.

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The soldiers carried Cassandra, dragging her to their own ships. Again Cassandra offered visions of the future. せwWw．ｆAＩＲY-ＴａＬｅ.iｎfｏīτVメn

"Your soldiers will never make it home," she told Odysseus. But as her own people had, the Greeks only laughed. "Madness," they said.

But they ought to have listened, for this was the beginning of many years of anguish at sea for the Greeks.