As for Daedalus, when the people of Athens heard of his dastardly deed,
they were filled with grief and rage--grief for young Perdix, whom all
had learned to love; rage towards the wicked uncle, who loved only
himself. At first they were for punishing Daedalus with the death which
he so richly deserved, but when they remembered what he had done to make
their homes pleasanter and their lives easier, they allowed him to live;
and yet they drove him out of Athens and bade him never return.
There was a ship in the harbor just ready to start on a voyage across
the sea, and in it Daedalus embarked with all his precious tools and
his young son Icarus. Day after day the little vessel sailed slowly
southward, keeping the shore of the mainland always upon the right. It
passed Troezen and the rocky coast of Argos, and then struck boldly out
across the sea.
At last the famous Island of Crete was reached, and there Daedalus
landed and made himself known; and the King of Crete, who had already
heard of his wondrous skill, welcomed him to his kingdom, and gave him a
home in his palace, and promised that he should be rewarded with great
riches and honor if he would but stay and practice his craft there as he
had done in Athens.
Now the name of the King of Crete was Minos. His grandfather, whose name
was also Minos, was the son of Europa, a young princess whom a white
bull, it was said, had brought on his back across the sea from distant
Asia. This elder Minos had been accounted the wisest of men--so wise,
indeed, that Jupiter chose him to be one of the judges of the Lower
World. The younger Minos was almost as wise as his grandfather; and he
was brave and far-seeing and skilled as a ruler of men. He had made all
the islands subject to his kingdom, and his ships sailed into every part
of the world and brought back to Crete the riches of foreign lands. So
it was not hard for him to persuade Daedalus to make his home with him
and be the chief of his artisans.
And Daedalus built for King Minos a most wonderful palace with floors of
marble and pillars of granite; and in the palace he set up golden
statues which had tongues and could talk; and for splendor and beauty
there was no other building in all the wide earth that could be compared
with it.
There lived in those days among the hills of Crete a terrible monster
called the Minotaur, the like of which has never been seen from that
time until now. This creature, it was said, had the body of a man, but
the face and head of a wild bull and the fierce nature of a mountain
lion. The people of Crete would not have killed him if they could; for
they thought that the Mighty Folk who lived with Jupiter on the mountain
top had sent him among them, and that these beings would be angry if any
one should take his life. He was the pest and terror of all the land.
Where he was least expected, there he was sure to be; and almost every
day some man, woman, or child was caught and devoured by him.
"You have done so many wonderful things," said the king to Daedalus,
"can you not do something to rid the land of this Minotaur?"
"Shall I kill him?" asked Daedalus.
"Ah, no!" said the king. "That would only bring greater misfortunes upon
us."
"I will build a house for him then," said Daedalus, "and you can keep
him in it as a prisoner."
"But he may pine away and die if he is penned up in prison," said the
king.
"He shall have plenty of room to roam about," said Daedalus; "and if you
will only now and then feed one of your enemies to him, I promise you
that he shall live and thrive."
So the wonderful artisan brought together his workmen, and they built a
marvelous house with so many rooms in it and so many winding ways that
no one who went far into it could ever find his way out again; and
Daedalus called it the Labyrinth, and cunningly persuaded the Minotaur
to go inside of it. The monster soon lost his way among the winding
passages, but the sound of his terrible bellowings could be heard day
and night as he wandered back and forth vainly trying to find some place
to escape.