that none dared to
meet them in battle. King Aegeus and all the elder men of the city went
humbly to meet Minos, clad in mourning, and bearing in their hands
boughs of trees, wreathed with wool, to show that they came praying for
mercy. "Mercy ye shall have when ye have given up to me the men who slew
my son," said Minos. But Aegeus could not give up the sons of Pallas, for
long ago they had fled in disguise, and were lurking here and there, in
all the uttermost parts of Greece, in the huts of peasants. Such mercy,
then, the Athenians got as Minos was pleased to give. He did not burn
the city, and slay the men, and carry the women captives. But he made
Aegeus and the chief men swear that every nine years they would choose by
lot seven of the strongest youths, and seven of the fairest maidens, and
give them to his men, to carry away to Crete. Every nine years he sends
a ship with dark sails, to bear away the captives, and this is the ninth
year, and the day of the coming of the ship is at hand. Can you resist
King Minos?'

'His ship we could burn, and his men we could slay,' said Theseus; and
his hand closed on the hilt of his sword.

'That may well be,' said Medea, 'but in a year Minos would come with his
fleet and his army, and burn the city; and the other cities of Greece,
fearing him and not loving us, would give us no aid.'

'Then,' said Theseus, 'we must even pay the tribute for this last time;
but in nine years, if I live, and the gods help me, I shall have a
fleet, and Minos must fight for his tribute. For in nine years Athens
will be queen of all the cities round about, and strong in men and
ships. Yet, tell me, how does Minos treat the captives from Athens,
kindly or unkindly?'

'None has ever come back to tell the tale,' said Medea, 'but the sailors
of Minos say that he places the captives in a strange prison called the
Labyrinth. It is full of dark winding ways, cut in the solid rock, and
therein the captives are lost and perish of hunger, or live till they
meet a Thing called the Minotaur. This monster has the body of a strong
man, and a man's legs and arms, but his head is the head of a bull, and
his teeth are the teeth of a lion, and no man may deal with him. Those
whom he meets he tosses, and gores, and devours. Whence this evil beast
came I know, but the truth of it may not be spoken. It is not lawful for
King Minos to slay the Horror, which to him is great shame and grief;
neither may he help any ma