Odysseus's cunning in a wrestling match

                                         A tale from the Iliad

This episode from the Iliad deals with how the master of wiles,Odysseus,uses his cunning presence of mind to fight a wrestling match . With a backdrop of Patroclus's funeral games organised by mighty Achilles ,on the shores of Troy;Ajax the son of Telamon and crafty  Odysseus rise to fight a  wrestling match.

         Their backbones cracked as they tugged their mighty arms.Many a bloody weal sprang on their shoulders and sides,but they kept on striving with might and main to win the first prize-a tripod.

         Odysseus could not throw Ajax ,nor Ajax him;Odysseus was too strong for him.But when Achaens began to tire of watching them Ajax said to Odysseus,"You shall either lift me ,or I you,and let Zeus settle it between us."He lifted him from the ground as he spoke,but Odysseus did not forget his cunning .He hit Ajax in the hollow at the back of his knee so that he could not keep back his feet,but fell on his back with Odysseus lying upon his chest,and all who saw it marveled.
             This was how the cunning  and crafts of Odysseus made him  outlive his peers,firstly in his ten year long famous adventurous return voyage to Ithaca;and secondly in finding a corner in our hearts.