Minotaur: Part 1

There was a king in ancient Greece, and Minos was his name. His kingdom was an island — Crete. Enormous was his fame. In Athens ruled another king he too — a mighty one. And once he was the gracious host of Minos' only son. The lad was sent by Athens' king to hunt a boar so wild that with its deadly tusks it gored king Minos' hapless child. For such mistreatment of a guest and to avenge his son King Minos' army went to war which soon the Cretans won. To punish Athens and its king the angry Minos said that Athens would not be destroyed if it would pay instead. The payment that he had in mind would make your heart stand still. He wanted neither jewels nor gold: of that he'd had his fill. He said that every single year they'd have to send to Crete a youth from Athens, like his son, the Minotaur to meet. Who was the Minotaur, you ask? He was a monstrous beast — half-bull half-man. On human flesh the Minotaur would feast. King Minos kept the Minotaur in an enormous maze with many paths and dank dead ends: you'd wander there for days. But no one ever found the way out of this horrid place because the Minotaur was bound to meet you face-to-face. The youth that Athens picked to die was a courageous lad. His name was Theseus the bold, and all his friends were sad. He said: "I'll go and face the beast: who knows, I might survive. I've got to use my wits, and then I will come back alive."