King Minos was the king of Crete. He was angry and enjoyed attacking the city of Athens when they weren't expecting it. King Aegeus, who was the king of Athens, wanted to stop the attacks so he struck a deal with Minos. In return for peace, Aegeus would send over seven girls and seven boys to be offered to King Minos's terrifying beast the Minotaur.
Theseus was
fed up. Minos had been telling Athens what to do for nine years now and,
tomorrow, 14 more children would be shipped off to meet the Minotaur. He went
over the plan in his head and knocked on the door of his father's study.
Before Aegeus
could even stand up to meet his son, Theseus had started talking. "This
deal with Minos has gone on for too long. Families are terrified that their
children will be picked next. We should be protecting our people not feeding
them to the Minotaur! Tomorrow, when the boat comes, I am going to take the
place of one of the boys. Then, I will defeat the Minotaur and we can live in
peace."
Aegeus was
shocked. He knew that his son was strong and brave but the Minotaur was huge
and fierce. In fact, it was so fierce that it had to be locked inside a complex
maze. Aegeus begged Theseus to find another way but he had already made up his
mind. Eventually, Aegeus had to agree.
"I will
not be happy until I know that you are safe," he told Theseus. "The
moment that I can see your ship, I want to know that you have won. If you have
defeated the beast, replace your ship's black sails with white ones. Then, I
will know that you are coming home safely." Theseus nodded and promised
his father that his sails would be white.
Later that
day, Theseus climbed into the ship alongside 13 shivering children. When the
boat arrived in Crete, they were met by Minos and his daughter, Ariadne. As
Minos led the children to the palace, Ariadne pulled Theseus to one side. She
explained that she wanted to escape from her father and his unfair laws. As a
result, she told Theseus that she would help him if he promised to take her
away from Crete.
Agreeing to
help, Theseus and Ariadne went to see Daedalus. He had invented the labyrinth
that the Minotaur was being kept in. Wanting to be a hero, Daedalus agreed to
help. Later that night, the three met at the entrance to the labyrinth.
Holding out a
ball of string, Daedalus explained his plan. "This labyrinth has been
designed to be so complicated that I can't even escape it. However, if you
unravel this string behind you, you will be able to use it to find the entrance
again. Ariadne and I will stay here to make sure that nobody else comes in.
Good luck."
With that,
the doors to the labyrinth closed and Theseus set off to find the Minotaur.
Leaving the string behind him, he searched through the narrow passages until,
at last, he was face to face with the beast. The Minotaur was stronger but
Theseus was quicker and smarter. After a long battle, Theseus emerged
victorious. The Minotaur had been defeated.
Theseus
immediately made his way to the ship with Ariadne. He had done it! No more
children would ever have to meet the Minotaur. Feeling tired but happy, Theseus
hoisted the black sails of his ship and headed for home, forgetting all about
the promise that he had made to his father.
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