The Adventures of Cletus: Greek Hero

The Adventures of Cletus: Greek Hero

Written by: Mr. Chapman’s 6th Grade Class

Edited and Revised by: Jonathan Chapman

Illustrations by: Grant Hamilton, Brittany Smith

Published by: LBJ Printing Co. Room 112. Jackson, KY. 41339

January 2012

Chapter 1

Cletus inOlympia

The story begins in ancient times long ago in a far away land. Some 2500 years ago Greeks of all ages heard the tales told by the aging orators in the town markets and village squares. Their stories were carried across the land from voice to voice. The larger than life heroes and heroines who were faced with many challenges and adventures were at the mercy of the gods. The gods, or the immortals, were in control of all mortals and their fates. And so the story about young Cletus, a Greek warrior returning from the Eastern Barbarian Wars begins…

Cletus was born in Olympia, the home of the Olympic Games.Every four years a pan-Hellenic truce was announced and people from all over Greece gathered at Olympia, in order to compete and attend the Games. The prize for the winner was the “kotinos”, a garland made from wild olive trees. Cletus had been crowned in three consecutive games. Cletus’s young life was good to him and his rewards many. People praised young Cletus as the future King of Olympia.

However, the gods had a different idea, in particular Ares; the god of war. Ares was disliked by his parents Zeus and Hera and wasscorned as being murderous and cowardly. Ares was determined that Cletus, being brave and of many virtues, not have his name recited more than his own by the mortals in Greece. Ares summoned his war dogs and the Greeks were thrust into battle with the Barbarians from the east. Cletus was to join the battle, as it was his civil service to his country.

The war dragged on as many Greeks bled and died in the eastern lands. For five years Cletus battled the barbarians. He was brave and valiant and was a great general on the battlefield. So great in fact, caught up in his self righteousness and glory, he failed to do the one thing that would surely take him home safely…thank the gods. The barbarians had been defeated and the Greek fleet with all of its soldiers was to return to its home in Greece. It had taken Cletus three weeks to sail to the eastern land…his journey home would not be so uneventful. The gods would make sure of it!

Chapter 2

TriclopsIsland

During Cletus’s voyage home, he is confronted by Gyro, the god of magic. Being as overconfident and greedy as winning epic battles often does…Cletus steals Gyro’s Magic Cane. When he does this, Gyro gets very angry and he makes them appear on BabyClopsIsland. On this island, nobody grows older than twelve.

Only days after being cast onto the island, they start getting younger and younger. They lose their beards and their wrinkles begin to fade. When they get to the island, their ages range from thirty to forty-two. When they finally find shelter, they look like teenagers again.

The cave they had found was dark and dimly lit by a small fire. In the shelter, there was a Baby Triclops with three eyes. It was as big as a fifty story building. It was sleeping on a bed as big as a mansion. Beside it, was a rattle filled with gold.

Cletus asked, “What would a baby like that eat?”

His assistant Clodysieus says, “I think I found it,” as he points to a giant bowl of apple sauce with a hot red color.

Starving and badly malnourished, it looked very good; they took a bite with a huge spoon. It took nearly 10 men to move the spoon.

“It tastes terrible and is burning the inside of my teeth,” Clodysieus said.

That’s when they see the gold inside the rattle the Baby Triclops has. They get so greedy; they take the giant spoon and crack the rattle. Suddenly, the Triclops wakes up and starts crying. The tears drowned eight men at once! They had to act at once. The men had to work together to poke the three eyes out. The Triclops cried even louder and eventually the cries stopped as he had fallen dead from his severe wounds.

After they slayed the Triclops, they tried to find a potion to turn their men back to their original age. They went into a door and saw a potion. Suddenly a Three-Headed dog pops out. The god Ares is determined to keep them from returning home and sent one of his personal war dogs to finish the task. They have to use teamwork once again to slay the Three-Headed beast. Once they slay the dog, they drink the potion. And, turn old again. They find the way off of the island through the dense forests and jungles and return to their ship. Cletus and his crew continue their voyage back to Olympia.

Chapter 3

Space Odyssey

As Cletus is continuing his “cursed” journey home, a large sea giraffe, which has the longest neck ever (2,800 feet) gets under the boat and pushes up with all its might. This sends Cletus hurling into space at light speed. Cletus landed on a strange planet.

Aditi, the Goddess of space, tells him to go to the Queen of the Gondalayas, the main life on the planet Neutron, and say “Behead me” to her.

Doubtingly, Cletus goes to the queen and follows her orders. As the goose bumps rise on his neck and he begins to shake, Queen Carrie pulls the string to release the guillotine. Just as the blade is cutting his neck hairs, he grabs the blade and runs.

When the sea giraffe threw him into space, Cletus’ boat was shattered! One hundred feet away a space boat appears because he had followed Aditi’s instructions. Cletus must swim to the new life boat. However, in-between he and the boat are 1,000 mad gondalayas. Aditi tells him to ask the Gods and Goddess for help. When he does they carry him across to the space boat. Then….he wakes up.

Realizing it was all a dream, he notices he is lying on the boat floor. His crew is fighting off some of the barbarians that tracked the boat. They are fighting on an island unaware Cletus awoke. He jumps in the shallow sea apologizing to Poseidon and asking him for help. Then, with Poseidon’s “Ok” he yells “Hey barbarians come and get me!” As they run to get Cletus, who is swimming away, a whirlpool appears with sharks at the bottom that is spinning like a humongous tornado. The Barbarians get sucked up.

Cletus and his crew are united again; being so happy that they have seen each other again he again forgets to thank Poseidon! Although he did learn to trust the Gods and Goddess he still doesn’t thank Poseidon and begins a newly cursed journey.

Chapter 4

CannibalIsland

Cletus and his crew were on their ship when the wind quit blowing. Poseidon had cut a deal with the god of the wind. They rowed to the nearest island. Three days and three nights past when they finally reached the shores of CannibalIsland. The crew was forced to go ashore to get supplies or die of dehydration and starvation. They all got out and went to set down. Then people came up behind them and started talking to them. The strange looking people were purple and green. There were holes in the island which they lived in. Were these the cannibals they were warned about? The men were terrified!

Suddenly, the cannibals crept up out of holes in the sandand began chasing them. The crew ran so fast the cannibals could not catch them. The crew began throwing olives at the cannibals. This did little to slow down the pursuit!

The crew was weak but they never gave up. They kept running and picked up rocks and started throwing them at the cannibals. The cannibals caught three of Cletus’s men and boiled them in their large pot.

The rest of the crew escaped and hid in the darkness of night. While the sounds of the cannibals consuming their fellow mates echo through the darkness the crew squatted in silence. Terrified and dehydrated they wonder about how they are going to make it out alive.

After several hours the sounds of footsteps begin to get closer and closer. The silhouette of a woman appears against the moonlight. Hiding, the crew waited silently not wanting to be noticed. Afraid it was a cannibal search party.

The woman announced her presence. “I am Rainbow Warrior. I am here to make you an offer you cannot refuse. I have been banished to this forsaken island for over twenty years. I know the path which will lead you out of darkness and back to your ship. The time to move is now, while the cannibals feast on your fellow mates you who remain may escape without being noticed. So those of you who wish to stay on this island and be turned into cannibal kabobs stay, the rest may follow me.”

The crew hesitatingly began to reveal themselves from their hiding places. They followed the mysterious woman through the darkness and to the beach. Their ship laid waiting.

Aboard the ship the woman told them the story of how she was turned into a unicorn by the evil witch during the Barbarian War and banished to CannibalIsland. By day she was a unicorn and by night she returned to her original form. Now off the Island and sailing toward Olympia, she joined Cletus and his men on their voyage back home. She was now indebted to Cletus as he was to her. The wind was blowing gingerly…but that was not to last. A storm was brewing on the horizon!

Chapter 5

Isle of Temptation

Cletus and his crew sail directly into the eye of an enormous storm. There was no avoiding it as it stretched as far as the eye could see on the port and starboard horizon. The storm tossed their vessel from side to side and water floods the compartments below deck. The crew works tirelessly to bail the water out. After 12 sleepless hours the storm settled and the sea was calm. Cletus and his crew slept as they were all exhausted from the storm.

As Cletus slept he was visited in a dream by the God Nickolas. Nickolas told him of an island his ship would sail close to. The island would be bountiful in food and water and all things Cletus and his men might want. However, he is told not to go ashore because the island is cursed. The island is littered with stone figures; the figures of sailors who landed there many years ago. Those who drink the water and eat the fruit will be turned to stone and will never be returned to their true form.

Cletus tells his crew that they are not to stop on the island but they are angered. They are starved, dehydrated and exhausted by the many months spent at sea. They take control of the ship and force Cletus to go ashore.

There they find all of the things that the God Nickolas promised. Cletus warned them not to partake in the tempting fruits and the crystal clear springs that dotted the landscape. Three of the crewmen began to drink from a spring and immediately turned into stone statues. Two others who ate fruit from the trees also turned into stone. The crew began to beg for forgiveness from Cletus as they knew they were wrong to mutiny and bring the ship ashore.

Cletus, being the wise man that he was, knew that he needed his crew if he was to ever make it back home to Olympia. As disgusted as he was with them, he forgave them and ordered them back to the ship. To their surprise, their ship lay in a pile of sawdust. The island was infested with termites and had devoured their ship. All was lost and as well as all hope of getting off the island.

Cletus was determined however and developed a plan to get back to Olympia. He ordered his men to chop down all the trees that they could. Another group of men were to gather vines to be used as roping. Cletus and his men built a large seaworthy raft out the raw materials they found on the island. After two days of endless and tiring construction they set sail using their shirts sewn together for sails.

As they sail off into the vast sea they take a final look at the stone statues that stand silent and frozen on the island shore behind them. Temptation had almost been the end of Cletus and his crew. The Gods were to be feared as well as to be listened to.

Chapter 6

Sea of Calm Water

Cletus and his men continued sailing toward Olympia as a storm gathered in the distance. The water became rough and choppy. As the men stare at the wall of water pouring from the sky, a bright sunbeam peered through an opening in the clouds. The sunbeam shined upon an island with the calmest water man had ever seen. They decided to stop there and take shelter from the storm.

They landedtheir boat and were going ashore when the ground started to shake and rocks started to fall. Their boat was badly damaged and most of the sails were badly torn.

“Oh no”, Cletus said!

As the men scurried for shelter, Cletus noticed a girl on the other side of a cave opening. She looked to be a mortal, just as they were, and in danger. They decided they should help. Four of his men were going to help and the second they reached her she was gone. She had jumped in the water, grew a fin, and bared her sharp knife like teeth. In a flash, all four of the men were gone. They were torn to shreds by the man eating mermaid.

Cletus and his remaining crew cut their way through the thick vegetation of the jungle. They were in search of fresh water and food. Little did they know that the jungle was known by the gods as the ForbiddenForest. The grass was poisonous and all that touched it would grow weak and frail. To make things worse, the island was full of mysterious she-fairies. The she-fairies had poisonous gas that would make men go blind.

Cletus had heard the tale of the mysterious ForbiddenForest told to him by his grandfather, so he had his men close their eyes and draw out their swords. The men sliced the air with wild swings of their swords. Several of his men were mortally wounded by their blind attacks.

Cletus then remembered what his grandfather had told him about the she-fairies. He had them take their last supply of red wine and douse the air with it. Red wine was the only thing that could kill the she-fairies. The she-fairies ran in fear giving Cletus and his men a chance to open their eyes and escape back to the boat.

The storm was raging all around the island but they had no choice. They must ride out the storm or face certain death on the forbidden island. The men rowed while the few remaining hands repaired the sails patching them with the shirts off their backs.

This time however, Poseidon would not allow the men to escape. He tossed their ship violently from wave to wave. Their damaged ship was taking on water faster than the men could bail it out. The ship and all of its men sank into the raging sea. All was lost.

Chapter 7

Cletus Returns

The raging sea calmed after two days. Cletus’s body floated as he drifted in and out of consciousness. The hot sun baked his skin and blistered his lips. The saltwater shriveled his body as he clang helplessly to a floating wine barrel. His mind wandered with delusions of his home, his friends, and his mother and father. He said his final prayers to the gods as he let go of the barrel.

His words this time were much different than any time before. He thanked the gods. He gave them the credit they had been seeking from Cletus his entire life.

“I am nothing without the gods”. Cletus whispered as he let go.

Cletus awoke with waves splashing in his face. Sand covered his body and his clothes were in shreds. Two children were looking at him as he lies motionless on a beach. Soon a crowd gathered around him and realized he was alive. They gathered his body and took him to the village doctor.