Laertes
3 of the 7 encyclopedias on this shelf carry an entry for Laertes. Both are reproduced below, so you can see where they agree and where they differ.
Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)
according to Homer, a King of Ithaca, and the supposed father of Ulysses, whose real progenitor was Sisyphus. Laertes, however, resigned his crown to Ulysses, and retired to a farm. After the absence of his son for 10 years at the siege of Troy, and 10 more expended in his return journey, Ulysses found his old and infirm father still employed in his fields and garden; and, having cautiously made himself known to the old king, they repaired together to the palace of the faithful Penelope, where they discovered themselves to the delighted queen. Laertes in his youth had been one of the Argonauts. LÆSTRYGONES (les-trig'ō-nēz), a fabled nation mentioned in Homer. They were giants who fed on human flesh and gave themselves up to evil doing. LÆVULOSE (lev'ū-lōs), in chemistry, C6H12O6, lævo-glucose, or sucro-lævulose, a variety of sugar, isomeric with dextrose, occurring together with dextrose in honey and in the juices of sweet fruits. It is also produced, together with an equal weight of dextrose, by the action of dilute acids, diastase, or yeast, on cane-sugar; or it may be obtained pure by heating inuline with dilute acids.
Aiton's Encyclopedia (1910)
la-er'tez, in Greek legend, the king of Ithaca and father of Ulysses. He joined the expedition engaged in the chase of the Calydonian boar, and also accompanied Jason when he went in search of the golden fleece . While Ulysses was away at the Trojan War Laertes became despondent, but, when he found that his son had returned, his youthful vigor came back to him and he joined in the fight with Penelope's suitors. Shakespeare uses the name, Laertes, for the brother of Ophelia in his play of Hamlet.
1000 Classical Characters (1900)
A king of Ithaca who married Anticlea, daughter of Autolycus. Ulysses was their son, and succeeded him on the throne, Laertes retiring to the country, and devoting his time to gardening, in which employment he was found by Ulysses on his return from the Trojan war, after twenty years' absence.