e springtime comes and the roses
begin to bloom, you shall choose seven of your noblest youths and seven
of your fairest maidens, and shall send them to me in a ship which your
king shall provide. This is the tribute which you shall pay to me,
Minos, king of Crete; and if you fail for a single time, or delay even a
day, my soldiers shall tear down your walls and burn your city and put
your men to the sword and sell your wives and children as slaves."

"We agree to all this, O King," said the elders; "for it is the least of
two evils. But tell us now, what shall be the fate of the seven youths
and the seven maidens?"

"In Crete," answered Minos, "there is a house called the Labyrinth, the
like of which you have never seen. In it there are a thousand chambers
and winding ways, and whosoever goes even a little way into them can
never find his way out again. Into this house the seven youths and the
seven maidens shall be thrust, and they shall be left there--"

"To perish with hunger?" cried the elders.

"To be devoured by a monster whom men call the Minotaur," said Minos.

Then King AEgeus and the elders covered their faces and wept and went
slowly back into the city to tell their people of the sad and terrible
conditions upon which Athens could alone be saved.

"It is better that a few should perish than that the whole city should
be destroyed," they said.

II. THE TRIBUTE.

Years passed by. Every spring when the roses began to bloom seven youths
and seven maidens were put on board of a black-sailed ship and sent to
Crete to pay the tribute which King Minos required. In every house in
Athens there was sorrow and dread, and the people lifted up their hands
to Athena on the hilltop and cried out, "How long, O Queen of the Air,
how long shall this thing be?"

In the meanwhile the little child at Troezen on the other side of the
sea had grown to be a man. His name, Theseus, was in everybody's mouth,
for he had done great deeds of daring; and at last he had come to Athens
to find his father, King AEgeus, who had never heard whether he was alive
or dead; and when the youth had made himself known, the king had
welcomed him to his home and all the people were glad because so noble a
prince had come to dwell among them and, in time, to rule over their
city.

The springtime came again. The black-sailed ship was rigged for another
voyage. The rude Cretan soldiers paraded the streets; and the herald of
King Minos