maidens of
Athens who came with me to Crete to be devoured by the Minotaur."

"Ah, Theseus," said Ariadne, "they cannot escape the Minotaur. One only
may escape, and I want you to be that one. I saw you when you wrestled
with Deucalion, our great wrestler, and since then I have longed to
save you."

"I have come to slay the Minotaur," said Theseus, "and I cannot hold my
life as my own until I have slain it."

Said Ariadne, "If you could see the Minotaur, Theseus, and if you could
measure its power, you would know that you are not the one to slay it.
I think that only Talos, that giant who was all of bronze, could have
slain the Minotaur."

"Princess," said Theseus, "can you help me to come to the Minotaur and
look upon it so that I can know for certainty whether this hand of mine
can slay the monster?"

"I can help you to come to the Minotaur and look upon it," said Ariadne.

"Then help me, princess," cried Theseus; "help me to come to the
Minotaur and look upon it, and help me, too, to get back the sword that
I brought with me to Crete."

"Your sword will not avail you against the Minotaur," said Ariadne;
"when you look upon the monster you will know that it is not for your
hand to slay."

"Oh, but bring me my sword, princess," cried Theseus, and his hands
went out to her in supplication.

"I will bring you your sword," said she.

She took up a little lamp and went through a doorway, leaving Theseus
standing by the low throne in the chamber of Minos. Then after a little
while she came back, bringing with her Theseus's great ivory-hilted
sword.

"It is a great sword," she said; "I marked it before because it is your
sword, Theseus. But even this great sword will not avail against the
Minotaur."

"Show me the way to come to the Minotaur, O Ariadne," cried Theseus.

He knew that she did not think that he would deem himself able to
strive with the Minotaur, and that when he looked upon the dread
monster he would return to her and then take the way of his escape.

She took his hand and led him from the chamber of Minos. She was not
tall, but she stood straight and walked steadily, and Theseus saw in
her something of the strange majesty that he had seen in Minos the king.

They came to high bronze gates that opened into a vault. "Here," said
Ariadne, "the labyrinth begins. Very devious is the labyrinth, built by
Daedalus, in which the Minotaur is hidden, and without the clue none
could find a way through