eliver Athens
from this cruel tribute."

"I knew that this would be your resolution," said Ariadne. "Come,
then, with me, brave Theseus. Here is your own sword, which the guards
deprived you of. You will need it; and pray Heaven you may use it well."

Then she led Theseus along by the hand until they came to a dark,
shadowy grove, where the moonlight wasted itself on the tops of the
trees, without shedding hardly so much as a glimmering beam upon their
pathway. After going a good way through this obscurity, they reached a
high marble wall, which was overgrown with creeping plants, that made
it shaggy with their verdure. The wall seemed to have no door, nor
any windows, but rose up, lofty, and massive, and mysterious, and was
neither to be clambered over, nor, as far as Theseus could perceive, to
be passed through. Nevertheless, Ariadne did but press one of her soft
little fingers against a particular block of marble and, though it
looked as solid as any other part of the wall, it yielded to her
touch, disclosing an entrance just wide enough to admit them They crept
through, and the marble stone swung back into its place.

"We are now," said Ariadne, "in the famous labyrinth which Daedalus
built before he made himself a pair of wings, and flew away from our
island like a bird. That Daedalus was a very cunning workman; but of all
his artful contrivances, this labyrinth is the most wondrous. Were we
to take but a few steps from the doorway, we might wander about all
our lifetime, and never find it again. Yet in the very center of this
labyrinth is the Minotaur; and, Theseus, you must go thither to seek
him."

"But how shall I ever find him," asked Theseus, "if the labyrinth so
bewilders me as you say it will?"

Just as he spoke, they heard a rough and very disagreeable roar, which
greatly resembled the lowing of a fierce bull, but yet had some sort of
sound like the human voice. Theseus even fancied a rude articulation in
it, as if the creature that uttered it were trying to shape his hoarse
breath into words. It was at some distance, however, and he really could
not tell whether it sounded most like a bull's roar or a man's harsh
voice.

"That is the Minotaur's noise," whispered Ariadne, closely grasping the
hand of Theseus, and pressing one of her own hands to her heart, which
was all in a tremble. "You must follow that sound through the windings
of the labyrinth, and, by and by, you will find him. Stay! take the