Son of Laertes or was it Sisyphus?

Greek Mythology Link.  Odysseus.  Carlos Parada.  7 Sept. 2012. http://www.maicar.com/GML/Odysseus.html.

To you who know not of me I am called Odysseus but to the Latin speakers I am known as Ulysses.  I am King of Ithaca and rule with common sense in an age where no one seems to have it.  My mother is Anticlea who was with child before marrying Laertes.  Though my real father is Sisyphus, Laertes is the man I grew up calling father but history likes to mix and match so take your pick.

In the years when Helen and Clytemnestra were to be wed, I felt no need to be a suitor to women so beautiful and if chosen, earn the ire of all the men who came.  Gods knowing, men do evil deeds for the littlest matters, and in this case, women.  The maiden Penelope looked more to my standards, a woman of fair looks and pretty enough to win my heart.  To win her hand, though, I had to be clever.  King Tyndareus, father of Helen and Clytemnestra, didn't want a blood bath between the suitors and I didn't want to become a victim of the possible battle.  Taking the old man aside I offered advice, an oath all the suitors had to take in order to ensure no harm came to the man chosen as the husband of the lady Helen.  Should the oath be forsaken each man will take up arms to defend he whom was shamed.  A simple oath and one that was to Tyndareus' liking.  With a good word from the old king to Penelope, I had what I wanted.

In irony, this oath became my own undoing or so it seems.  A lowly prince of Troy appears to have taken Helen from the king of Sparta, Menelaus who won Helen's hand and unlucky from my point of view.  Agamemnon, brother of Menelaus, wants all the men who took the oath to help him go to war, as was part of the oath I was dumb enough to make, against the Trojans and take back Helen in Menelaus' honor.  Clever I may be but there are those who can match my intellect on rare occasions.  In an attempt to play dumb I yoked an ass and oxen to a plow and tried to plant salt.  I had hoped my sanity would be questioned and my part in this war be forgotten.  Low and behold, Agamemnon's man Palamedes forced me to be sane as he put my young child in front of the yoke.  Damn him, the Gods must be laughing that I, Odysseus most intelligent of man, was outwitted.  Off to war I go but Palamedes will do well to watch where he stands.

Greek Mythology Link.  Odysseus. Carlos Parada.  7 Sept. 2012.  http://www.maicar.com/GML/Odysseus.html.

Greek Myth Index.  Odysseus.  8 Sept. 2012.  http://mythindex.com/greek-mythology/O/Odysseus.html.