<h3><!-- page 172--><SPAN name="page172"></SPAN><span class="pagenum"></span>PART II<br/> HOW THESEUS SLEW THE DEVOURERS OF MEN</h3>
<p>So Theseus stood there alone, with his mind full of many
hopes. And first he thought of going down to the harbour
and hiring a swift ship, and sailing across the bay to Athens;
but even that seemed too slow for him, and he longed for wings to
fly across the sea, and find his father. But after a while
his heart began to fail him; and he sighed, and said within
himself—</p>
<p>‘What if my father have other sons about him whom he
loves? What if he will not receive me? And what have
I done that he should receive me? He has forgotten me ever
since I was born: why should he welcome me now?’</p>
<p>Then he thought a long while sadly; and at the last he cried
aloud, ‘Yes! I will make him love me; for I will
prove myself worthy of his love. I will win honour and
renown, and do such deeds that Ægeus shall be proud of me,
though he had fifty other sons! Did not Heracles win
himself honour, though he was opprest, and the slave of
Eurystheus? Did he not kill all robbers and evil beasts,
and drain great lakes and marshes, breaking the hills through
with his club? Therefore it was that all men honoured him,
because he rid them of their miseries, and made life pleasant to
them and their children after them. Where can I go, to do
as Heracles has done? Where can I find strange adventures,
robbers, and monsters, and the children of hell, the enemies of
men? I will go by land, and into the mountains, and round
by the way of the Isthmus. Perhaps there I may hear of
brave adventures, and do something which shall win my
father’s love.’</p>
<p>So he went by land, and away into the mountains, with his
father’s sword upon his thigh, till he came to the Spider
mountains, which hang over Epidaurus and the sea, where the glens
run downward from one peak in the midst, as the rays spread in
the spider’s web.</p>
<p>And he went up into the gloomy glens, between the furrowed
marble walls, till the lowland grew blue beneath his feet and the
clouds drove damp about his head.</p>
<p>But he went up and up for ever, through the spider’s web
of glens, till he could see the narrow gulfs spread below him,
north and south, and east and west; black cracks half-choked with
mists, and above all a dreary down.</p>
<p>But over that down he must go, for there was no road right or
left; so he toiled on through bog and brake, till he came to a
pile of stones.</p>
<p>And on the stones a man was sitting, wrapt in a bearskin
cloak. The head of the bear served him for a cap, and its
teeth grinned white around his brows; and the feet were tied
about his throat, and their claws shone white upon his
chest. And when he saw Theseus he rose, and laughed till
the glens rattled.</p>
<p>‘And who art thou, fair fly, who hast walked into the
spider’s web?’ But Theseus walked on steadily,
and made no answer; but he thought, ‘Is this some robber?
and has an adventure come already to me?’ But the
strange man laughed louder than ever, and said—</p>
<p>‘Bold fly, know you not that these glens are the web
from which no fly ever finds his way out again, and this down the
spider’s house, and I the spider who sucks the flies?
Come hither, and let me feast upon you; for it is of no use to
run away, so cunning a web has my father Hephaistos spread for me
when he made these clefts in the mountains, through which no man
finds his way home.’</p>
<p>But Theseus came on steadily, and asked—</p>
<p>‘And what is your name among men, bold spider? and where
are your spider’s fangs?’</p>
<p>Then the strange man laughed again—</p>
<p>‘My name is Periphetes, the son of Hephaistos and
Anticleia the mountain nymph. But men call me Corynetes the
club-bearer; and here is my spider’s fang.’</p>
<p>And he lifted from off the stones at his side a mighty club of
bronze.</p>
<p>‘This my father gave me, and forged it himself in the
roots of the mountain; and with it I pound all proud flies till
they give out their fatness and their sweetness. So give me
up that gay sword of yours, and your mantle, and your golden
sandals, lest I pound you, and by ill-luck you die.’</p>
<p>But Theseus wrapt his mantle round his left arm quickly, in
hard folds, from his shoulder to his hand, and drew his sword,
and rushed upon the club-bearer, and the club-bearer rushed on
him.</p>
<p>Thrice he struck at Theseus, and made him bend under the blows
like a sapling; but Theseus guarded his head with his left arm,
and the mantle which was wrapt around it.</p>
<p>And thrice Theseus sprang upright after the blow, like a
sapling when the storm is past; and he stabbed at the club-bearer
with his sword, but the loose folds of the bearskin saved
him.</p>
<p>Then Theseus grew mad, and closed with him, and caught him by
the throat, and they fell and rolled over together; but when
Theseus rose up from the ground the club-bearer lay still at his
feet.</p>
<p>Then Theseus took his club and his bearskin, and left him to
the kites and crows, and went upon his journey down the glens on
the farther slope, till he came to a broad green valley, and saw
flocks and herds sleeping beneath the trees.</p>
<p>And by the side of a pleasant fountain, under the shade of
rocks and trees, were nymphs and shepherds dancing; but no one
piped to them while they danced.</p>
<p>And when they saw Theseus they shrieked; and the shepherds ran
off, and drove away their flocks, while the nymphs dived into the
fountain like coots, and vanished.</p>
<p>Theseus wondered and laughed: ‘What strange fancies have
folks here who run away from strangers, and have no music when
they dance!’ But he was tired, and dusty, and
thirsty; so he thought no more of them, but drank and bathed in
the clear pool, and then lay down in the shade under a
plane-tree, while the water sang him to sleep, as it tinkled down
from stone to stone.</p>
<p>And when he woke he heard a whispering, and saw the nymphs
peeping at him across the fountain from the dark mouth of a cave,
where they sat on green cushions of moss. And one said,
‘Surely he is not Periphetes;’ and another, ‘He
looks like no robber, but a fair and gentle youth.’</p>
<p>Then Theseus smiled, and called them, ‘Fair nymphs, I am
not Periphetes. He sleeps among the kites and crows; but I
have brought away his bearskin and his club.’</p>
<p>Then they leapt across the pool, and came to him, and called
the shepherds back. And he told them how he had slain the
club-bearer: and the shepherds kissed his feet and sang,
‘Now we shall feed our flocks in peace, and not be afraid
to have music when we dance; for the cruel club-bearer has met
his match, and he will listen for our pipes no more.’
Then they brought him kid’s flesh and wine, and the nymphs
brought him honey from the rocks, and he ate, and drank, and
slept again, while the nymphs and shepherds danced and
sang. And when he woke, they begged him to stay; but he
would not. ‘I have a great work to do,’ he
said; ‘I must be away toward the Isthmus, that I may go to
Athens.’</p>
<p>But the shepherds said, ‘Will you go alone toward
Athens? None travel that way now, except in armed
troops.’</p>
<p>‘As for arms, I have enough, as you see. And as
for troops, an honest man is good enough company for
himself. Why should I not go alone toward
Athens?’</p>
<p>‘If you do, you must look warily about you on the
Isthmus, lest you meet Sinis the robber, whom men call
Pituocamptes the pine-bender; for he bends down two pine-trees,
and binds all travellers hand and foot between them, and when he
lets the trees go again their bodies are torn in
sunder.’</p>
<p>‘And after that,’ said another, ‘you must go
inland, and not dare to pass over the cliffs of Sciron; for on
the left hand are the mountains, and on the right the sea, so
that you have no escape, but must needs meet Sciron the robber,
who will make you wash his feet; and while you are washing them
he will kick you over the cliff, to the tortoise who lives below,
and feeds upon the bodies of the dead.’</p>
<p>And before Theseus could answer, another cried, ‘And
after that is a worse danger still, unless you go inland always,
and leave Eleusis far on your right. For in Eleusis rules
Kerkuon the cruel king, the terror of all mortals, who killed his
own daughter Alope in prison. But she was changed into a
fair fountain; and her child he cast out upon the mountains, but
the wild mares gave it milk. And now he challenges all
comers to wrestle with him, for he is the best wrestler in all
Attica, and overthrows all who come; and those whom he overthrows
he murders miserably, and his palace-court is full of their
bones.’</p>
<p>Then Theseus frowned, and said, ‘This seems indeed an
ill-ruled land, and adventures enough in it to be tried.
But if I am the heir of it, I will rule it and right it, and here
is my royal sceptre.’</p>
<p>And he shook his club of bronze, while the nymphs and
shepherds clung round him, and entreated him not to go.</p>
<p>But on he went nevertheless, till he could see both the seas
and the citadel of Corinth towering high above all the
land. And he past swiftly along the Isthmus, for his heart
burned to meet that cruel Sinis; and in a pine-wood at last he
met him, where the Isthmus was narrowest and the road ran between
high rocks. There he sat upon a stone by the wayside, with
a young fir-tree for a club across his knees, and a cord laid
ready by his side; and over his head, upon the fir-tops, hung the
bones of murdered men.</p>
<p>Then Theseus shouted to him, ‘Holla, thou valiant
pine-bender, hast thou two fir-trees left for me?’</p>
<p>And Sinis leapt to his feet, and answered, pointing to the
bones above his head, ‘My larder has grown empty lately, so
I have two fir-trees ready for thee.’ And he rushed
on Theseus, lifting his club, and Theseus rushed upon him.</p>
<p>Then they hammered together till the greenwoods rang; but the
metal was tougher than the pine, and Sinis’ club broke
right across, as the bronze came down upon it. Then Theseus
heaved up another mighty stroke, and smote Sinis down upon his
face; and knelt upon his back, and bound him with his own cord,
and said, ‘As thou hast done to others, so shall it be done
to thee.’ Then he bent down two young fir-trees, and
bound Sinis between them for all his struggling and his prayers;
and let them go, and ended Sinis, and went on, leaving him to the
hawks and crows.</p>
<p>Then he went over the hills toward Megara, keeping close along
the Saronic Sea, till he came to the cliffs of Sciron, and the
narrow path between the mountain and the sea.</p>
<p>And there he saw Sciron sitting by a fountain, at the edge of
the cliff. On his knees was a mighty club; and he had
barred the path with stones, so that every one must stop who came
up.</p>
<p>Then Theseus shouted to him, and said, ‘Holla, thou
tortoise-feeder, do thy feet need washing to-day?’</p>
<p>And Sciron leapt to his feet, and answered—‘My
tortoise is empty and hungry, and my feet need washing
to-day.’ And he stood before his barrier, and lifted
up his club in both hands.</p>
<p>Then Theseus rushed upon him; and sore was the battle upon the
cliff, for when Sciron felt the weight of the bronze club, he
dropt his own, and closed with Theseus, and tried to hurl him by
main force over the cliff. But Theseus was a wary wrestler,
and dropt his own club, and caught him by the throat and by the
knee, and forced him back against the wall of stones, and crushed
him up against them, till his breath was almost gone. And
Sciron cried panting, ‘Loose me, and I will let thee
pass.’ But Theseus answered, ‘I must not pass
till I have made the rough way smooth;’ and he forced him
back against the wall till it fell, and Sciron rolled head over
heels.</p>
<p>Then Theseus lifted him up all bruised, and said, ‘Come
hither and wash my feet.’ And he drew his sword, and
sat down by the well, and said, ‘Wash my feet, or I cut you
piecemeal.’</p>
<p>And Sciron washed his feet trembling; and when it was done,
Theseus rose, and cried, ‘As thou hast done to others, so
shall it be done to thee. Go feed thy tortoise
thyself;’ and he kicked him over the cliff into the
sea.</p>
<p>And whether the tortoise ate him, I know not; for some say
that earth and sea both disdained to take his body, so foul it
was with sin. So the sea cast it out upon the shore, and
the shore cast it back into the sea, and at last the waves hurled
it high into the air in anger; and it hung there long without a
grave, till it was changed into a desolate rock, which stands
there in the surge until this day.</p>
<p>This at least is true, which Pausanias tells, that in the
royal porch at Athens he saw the figure of Theseus modelled in
clay, and by him Sciron the robber falling headlong into the
sea.</p>
<p>Then he went a long day’s journey, past Megara, into the
Attic land, and high before him rose the snow-peaks of
Cithæron, all cold above the black pine-woods, where haunt
the Furies, and the raving Bacchæ, and the Nymphs who drive
men wild, far aloft upon the dreary mountains, where the storms
howl all day long. And on his right hand was the sea
always, and Salamis, with its island cliffs, and the sacred
strait of the sea-fight, where afterwards the Persians fled
before the Greeks. So he went all day until the evening,
till he saw the Thriasian plain, and the sacred city of Eleusis,
where the Earth-mother’s temple stands. For there she
met Triptolemus, when all the land lay waste, Demeter the kind
Earth-mother, and in her hands a sheaf of corn. And she
taught him to plough the fallows, and to yoke the lazy kine; and
she taught him to sow the seed-fields, and to reap the golden
grain; and sent him forth to teach all nations, and give corn to
labouring men. So at Eleusis all men honour her, whosoever
tills the land; her and Triptolemus her beloved, who gave corn to
labouring men.</p>
<p>And he went along the plain into Eleusis, and stood in the
market-place, and cried—</p>
<p>‘Where is Kerkuon, the king of the city? I must
wrestle a fall with him to-day.’</p>
<p>Then all the people crowded round him, and cried, ‘Fair
youth, why will you die? Hasten out of the city, before the
cruel king hears that a stranger is here.’</p>
<p>But Theseus went up through the town, while the people wept
and prayed, and through the gates of the palace-yard, and through
the piles of bones and skulls, till he came to the door of
Kerkuon’s hall, the terror of all mortal men.</p>
<p>And there he saw Kerkuon sitting at the table in the hall
alone; and before him was a whole sheep roasted, and beside him a
whole jar of wine. And Theseus stood and called him,
‘Holla, thou valiant wrestler, wilt thou wrestle a fall
to-day?’</p>
<p>And Kerkuon looked up and laughed, and answered, ‘I will
wrestle a fall to-day; but come in, for I am lonely and thou
weary, and eat and drink before thou die.’</p>
<p>Then Theseus went up boldly, and sat down before Kerkuon at
the board; and he ate his fill of the sheep’s flesh, and
drank his fill of the wine; and Theseus ate enough for three men,
but Kerkuon ate enough for seven.</p>
<p>But neither spoke a word to the other, though they looked
across the table by stealth; and each said in his heart,
‘He has broad shoulders; but I trust mine are as broad as
his.’</p>
<p>At last, when the sheep was eaten and the jar of wine drained
dry, King Kerkuon rose, and cried, ‘Let us wrestle a fall
before we sleep.’</p>
<p>So they tossed off all their garments, and went forth in the
palace-yard; and Kerkuon bade strew fresh sand in an open space
between the bones.</p>
<p>And there the heroes stood face to face, while their eyes
glared like wild bulls’; and all the people crowded at the
gates to see what would befall.</p>
<p>And there they stood and wrestled, till the stars shone out
above their heads; up and down and round, till the sand was
stamped hard beneath their feet. And their eyes flashed
like stars in the darkness, and their breath went up like smoke
in the night air; but neither took nor gave a footstep, and the
people watched silent at the gates.</p>
<p>But at last Kerkuon grew angry, and caught Theseus round the
neck, and shook him as a mastiff shakes a rat; but he could not
shake him off his feet.</p>
<p>But Theseus was quick and wary, and clasped Kerkuon round the
waist, and slipped his loin quickly underneath him, while he
caught him by the wrist; and then he hove a mighty heave, a heave
which would have stirred an oak, and lifted Kerkuon, and pitched
him right over his shoulder on the ground.</p>
<p>Then he leapt on him, and called, ‘Yield, or I kill
thee!’ but Kerkuon said no word; for his heart was burst
within him with the fall, and the meat, and the wine.</p>
<p>Then Theseus opened the gates, and called in all the people;
and they cried, ‘You have slain our evil king; be you now
our king, and rule us well.’</p>
<p>‘I will be your king in Eleusis, and I will rule you
right and well; for this cause I have slain all
evil-doers—Sinis, and Sciron, and this man last of
all.’</p>
<p>Then an aged man stepped forth, and said, ‘Young hero,
hast thou slain Sinis? Beware then of Ægeus, king of
Athens, to whom thou goest, for he is near of kin to
Sinis.’</p>
<p>‘Then I have slain my own kinsman,’ said Theseus,
‘though well he deserved to die. Who will purge me
from his death, for rightfully I slew him, unrighteous and
accursed as he was?’</p>
<p>And the old man answered—</p>
<p>‘That will the heroes do, the sons of Phytalus, who
dwell beneath the elm-tree in Aphidnai, by the bank of silver
Cephisus; for they know the mysteries of the Gods. Thither
you shall go and be purified, and after you shall be our
king.’</p>
<p>So he took an oath of the people of Eleusis, that they would
serve him as their king, and went away next morning across the
Thriasian plain, and over the hills toward Aphidnai, that he
might find the sons of Phytalus.</p>
<p>And as he was skirting the Vale of Cephisus, along the foot of
lofty Parnes, a very tall and strong man came down to meet him,
dressed in rich garments. On his arms were golden
bracelets, and round his neck a collar of jewels; and he came
forward, bowing courteously, and held out both his hands, and
spoke—</p>
<p>‘Welcome, fair youth, to these mountains; happy am I to
have met you! For what greater pleasure to a good man, than
to entertain strangers? But I see that you are weary.
Come up to my castle, and rest yourself awhile.’</p>
<p>‘I give you thanks,’ said Theseus: ‘but I am
in haste to go up the valley, and to reach Aphidnai in the Vale
of Cephisus.’</p>
<p>‘Alas! you have wandered far from the right way, and you
cannot reach Aphidnai to-night, for there are many miles of
mountain between you and it, and steep passes, and cliffs
dangerous after nightfall. It is well for you that I met
you, for my whole joy is to find strangers, and to feast them at
my castle, and hear tales from them of foreign lands. Come
up with me, and eat the best of venison, and drink the rich red
wine, and sleep upon my famous bed, of which all travellers say
that they never saw the like. For whatsoever the stature of
my guest, however tall or short, that bed fits him to a hair, and
he sleeps on it as he never slept before.’ And he
laid hold on Theseus’ hands, and would not let him go.</p>
<p>Theseus wished to go forwards: but he was ashamed to seem
churlish to so hospitable a man; and he was curious to see that
wondrous bed; and beside, he was hungry and weary: yet he shrank
from the man, he knew not why; for, though his voice was gentle
and fawning, it was dry and husky like a toad’s; and though
his eyes were gentle, they were dull and cold like stones.
But he consented, and went with the man up a glen which led from
the road toward the peaks of Parnes, under the dark shadow of the
cliffs.</p>
<p>And as they went up, the glen grew narrower, and the cliffs
higher and darker, and beneath them a torrent roared, half seen
between bare limestone crags. And around there was neither
tree nor bush, while from the white peaks of Parnes the
snow-blasts swept down the glen, cutting and chilling till a
horror fell on Theseus as he looked round at that doleful
place. And he asked at last, ‘Your castle stands, it
seems, in a dreary region.’</p>
<p>‘Yes; but once within it, hospitality makes all things
cheerful. But who are these?’ and he looked back, and
Theseus also; and far below, along the road which they had left,
came a string of laden asses, and merchants walking by them,
watching their ware.</p>
<p>‘Ah, poor souls!’ said the stranger.
‘Well for them that I looked back and saw them! And
well for me too, for I shall have the more guests at my
feast. Wait awhile till I go down and call them, and we
will eat and drink together the livelong night. Happy am I,
to whom Heaven sends so many guests at once!’</p>
<p>And he ran back down the hill, waving his hand and shouting,
to the merchants, while Theseus went slowly up the steep
pass.</p>
<p>But as he went up he met an aged man, who had been gathering
drift-wood in the torrent-bed. He had laid down his faggot
in the road, and was trying to lift it again to his
shoulder. And when he saw Theseus, he called to him, and
said—</p>
<p>‘O fair youth, help me up with my burden, for my limbs
are stiff and weak with years.’</p>
<p>Then Theseus lifted the burden on his back. And the old
man blest him, and then looked earnestly upon him, and
said—</p>
<p>‘Who are you, fair youth, and wherefore travel you this
doleful road?’</p>
<p>‘Who I am my parents know; but I travel this doleful
road because I have been invited by a hospitable man, who
promises to feast me, and to make me sleep upon I know not what
wondrous bed.’</p>
<p>Then the old man clapped his hands together and
cried—</p>
<p>‘O house of Hades, man-devouring! will thy maw never be
full? Know, fair youth, that you are going to torment and
to death, for he who met you (I will requite your kindness by
another) is a robber and a murderer of men. Whatsoever
stranger he meets he entices him hither to death; and as for this
bed of which he speaks, truly it fits all comers, yet none ever
rose alive off it save me.’</p>
<p>‘Why?’ asked Theseus, astonished.</p>
<p>‘Because, if a man be too tall for it, he lops his limbs
till they be short enough, and if he be too short, he stretches
his limbs till they be long enough: but me only he spared, seven
weary years agone; for I alone of all fitted his bed exactly, so
he spared me, and made me his slave. And once I was a
wealthy merchant, and dwelt in brazen-gated Thebes; but now I hew
wood and draw water for him, the torment of all mortal
men.’</p>
<p>Then Theseus said nothing; but he ground his teeth
together.</p>
<p>‘Escape, then,’ said the old man, ‘for he
will have no pity on thy youth. But yesterday he brought up
hither a young man and a maiden, and fitted them upon his bed;
and the young man’s hands and feet he cut off, but the
maiden’s limbs he stretched until she died, and so both
perished miserably—but I am tired of weeping over the
slain. And therefore he is called Procrustes the stretcher,
though his father called him Damastes. Flee from him: yet
whither will you flee? The cliffs are steep, and who can
climb them? and there is no other road.’</p>
<p>But Theseus laid his hand upon the old man’s month, and
said, ‘There is no need to flee;’ and he turned to go
down the pass.</p>
<p>‘Do not tell him that I have warned you, or he will kill
me by some evil death;’ and the old man screamed after him
down the glen; but Theseus strode on in his wrath.</p>
<p>And he said to himself, ‘This is an ill-ruled land; when
shall I have done ridding it of monsters?’ And as he
spoke, Procrustes came up the hill, and all the merchants with
him, smiling and talking gaily. And when he saw Theseus, he
cried, ‘Ah, fair young guest, have I kept you too long
waiting?’</p>
<p>But Theseus answered, ‘The man who stretches his guests
upon a bed and hews off their hands and feet, what shall be done
to him, when right is done throughout the land?’</p>
<p>Then Procrustes’ countenance changed, and his cheeks
grew as green as a lizard, and he felt for his sword in haste;
but Theseus leapt on him, and cried—</p>
<p>‘Is this true, my host, or is it false?’ and he
clasped Procrustes round waist and elbow, so that he could not
draw his sword.</p>
<p>‘Is this true, my host, or is it false?’ But
Procrustes answered never a word.</p>
<p>Then Theseus flung him from him, and lifted up his dreadful
club; and before Procrustes could strike him he had struck, and
felled him to the ground.</p>
<p>And once again he struck him; and his evil soul fled forth,
and went down to Hades squeaking, like a bat into the darkness of
a cave.</p>
<p>Then Theseus stript him of his gold ornaments, and went up to
his house, and found there great wealth and treasure, which he
had stolen from the passers-by. And he called the people of
the country, whom Procrustes had spoiled a long time, and parted
the spoil among them, and went down the mountains, and away.</p>
<p>And he went down the glens of Parnes, through mist, and cloud,
and rain, down the slopes of oak, and lentisk, and arbutus, and
fragrant bay, till he came to the Vale of Cephisus, and the
pleasant town of Aphidnai, and the home of the Phytalid heroes,
where they dwelt beneath a mighty elm.</p>
<p>And there they built an altar, and bade him bathe in Cephisus,
and offer a yearling ram, and purified him from the blood of
Sinis, and sent him away in peace.</p>
<p>And he went down the valley by Acharnai, and by the
silver-swirling stream, while all the people blessed him, for the
fame of his prowess had spread wide, till he saw the plain of
Athens, and the hill where Athené dwells.</p>
<p>So Theseus went up through Athens, and all the people ran out
to see him; for his fame had gone before him and every one knew
of his mighty deeds. And all cried, ‘Here comes the
hero who slew Sinis, and Phaia the wild sow of Crommyon, and
conquered Kerkuon in wrestling, and slew Procrustes the
pitiless.’ But Theseus went on sadly and steadfastly,
for his heart yearned after his father; and he said, ‘How
shall I deliver him from these leeches who suck his
blood?’</p>
<p>So he went up the holy stairs, and into the Acropolis, where
Ægeus’ palace stood; and he went straight into
Ægeus’ hall, and stood upon the threshold, and looked
round.</p>
<p>And there he saw his cousins sitting about the table at the
wine: many a son of Pallas, but no Ægeus among them.
There they sat and feasted, and laughed, and passed the wine-cup
round; while harpers harped, and slave-girls sang, and the
tumblers showed their tricks.</p>
<p>Loud laughed the sons of Pallas, and fast went the wine-cup
round; but Theseus frowned, and said under his breath, ‘No
wonder that the land is full of robbers, while such as these bear
rule.’</p>
<p>Then the Pallantids saw him, and called to him, half-drunk
with wine, ‘Holla, tall stranger at the door, what is your
will to-day?’</p>
<p>‘I come hither to ask for hospitality.’</p>
<p>‘Then take it, and welcome. You look like a hero
and a bold warrior; and we like such to drink with us.’</p>
<p>‘I ask no hospitality of you; I ask it of Ægeus
the king, the master of this house.’</p>
<p>At that some growled, and some laughed, and shouted,
‘Heyday! we are all masters here.’</p>
<p>‘Then I am master as much as the rest of you,’
said Theseus, and he strode past the table up the hall, and
looked around for Ægeus; but he was nowhere to be seen.</p>
<p>The Pallantids looked at him, and then at each other, and each
whispered to the man next him, ‘This is a forward fellow;
he ought to be thrust out at the door.’ But each
man’s neighbour whispered in return, ‘His shoulders
are broad; will you rise and put him out?’ So they
all sat still where they were.</p>
<p>Then Theseus called to the servants, and said, ‘Go tell
King Ægeus, your master, that Theseus of Troezene is here,
and asks to be his guest awhile.’</p>
<p>A servant ran and told Ægeus, where he sat in his
chamber within, by Medeia the dark witch-woman, watching her eye
and hand. And when Ægeus heard of Troezene he turned
pale and red again, and rose from his seat trembling, while
Medeia watched him like a snake.</p>
<p>‘What is Troezene to you?’ she asked. But he
said hastily, ‘Do you not know who this Theseus is?
The hero who has cleared the country from all monsters; but that
he came from Troezene, I never heard before. I must go out
and welcome him.’</p>
<p>So Ægeus came out into the hall; and when Theseus saw
him, his heart leapt into his mouth, and he longed to fall on his
neck and welcome him; but he controlled himself, and said,
‘My father may not wish for me, after all. I will try
him before I discover myself;’ and he bowed low before
Ægeus, and said, ‘I have delivered the king’s
realm from many monsters; therefore I am come to ask a reward of
the king.’</p>
<p>And old Ægeus looked on him, and loved him, as what fond
heart would not have done? But he only sighed, and
said—</p>
<p>‘It is little that I can give you, noble lad, and
nothing that is worthy of you; for surely you are no mortal man,
or at least no mortal’s son.’</p>
<p>‘All I ask,’ said Theseus, ‘is to eat and
drink at your table.’</p>
<p>‘That I can give you,’ said Ægeus, ‘if
at least I am master in my own hall.’</p>
<p>Then he bade them put a seat for Theseus, and set before him
the best of the feast; and Theseus sat and ate so much, that all
the company wondered at him: but always he kept his club by his
side.</p>
<p>But Medeia the dark witch-woman had been watching him all the
while. She saw how Ægeus turned red and pale when the
lad said that he came from Troezene. She saw, too, how his
heart was opened toward Theseus; and how Theseus bore himself
before all the sons of Pallas, like a lion among a pack of
curs. And she said to herself, ‘This youth will be
master here; perhaps he is nearer to Ægeus already than
mere fancy. At least the Pallantilds will have no chance by
the side of such as he.’</p>
<p>Then she went back into her chamber modestly, while Theseus
ate and drank; and all the servants whispered, ‘This, then,
is the man who killed the monsters! How noble are his
looks, and how huge his size! Ah, would that he were our
master’s son!’</p>
<p>But presently Medeia came forth, decked in all her jewels, and
her rich Eastern robes, and looking more beautiful than the day,
so that all the guests could look at nothing else. And in
her right hand she held a golden cup, and in her left a flask of
gold; and she came up to Theseus, and spoke in a sweet, soft,
winning voice—</p>
<p>‘Hail to the hero, the conqueror, the unconquered, the
destroyer of all evil things! Drink, hero, of my charmed
cup, which gives rest after every toil, which heals all wounds,
and pours new life into the veins. Drink of my cup, for in
it sparkles the wine of the East, and Nepenthe, the comfort of
the Immortals.’</p>
<p>And as she spoke, she poured the flask into the cup; and the
fragrance of the wine spread through the hall, like the scent of
thyme and roses.</p>
<p>And Theseus looked up in her fair face and into her deep dark
eyes. And as he looked, he shrank and shuddered; for they
were dry like the eyes of a snake. And he rose, and said,
‘The wine is rich and fragrant, and the wine-bearer as fair
as the Immortals; but let her pledge me first herself in the cup,
that the wine may be the sweeter from her lips.’</p>
<p>Then Medeia turned pale, and stammered, ‘Forgive me,
fair hero; but I am ill, and dare drink no wine.’</p>
<p>And Theseus looked again into her eyes, and cried, ‘Thou
shalt pledge me in that cup, or die.’ And he lifted
up his brazen club, while all the guests looked on aghast.</p>
<p>Medeia shrieked a fearful shriek, and dashed the cup to the
ground, and fled; and where the wine flowed over the marble
pavement, the stone bubbled, and crumbled, and hissed, under the
fierce venom of the draught.</p>
<p>But Medeia called her dragon chariot, and sprang into it and
fled aloft, away over land and sea, and no man saw her more.</p>
<p>And Ægeus cried, ‘What hast thou
done?’ But Theseus pointed to the stone, ‘I
have rid the land of an enchantment: now I will rid it of one
more.’</p>
<p>And he came close to Ægeus, and drew from his bosom the
sword and the sandals, and said the words which his mother bade
him.</p>
<p>And Ægeus stepped back a pace, and looked at the lad
till his eyes grew dim; and then he cast himself on his neck and
wept, and Theseus wept on his neck, till they had no strength
left to weep more.</p>
<p>Then Ægeus turned to all the people, and cried,
‘Behold my son, children of Cecrops, a better man than his
father was before him.’</p>
<p>Who, then, were mad but the Pallantids, though they had been
mad enough before? And one shouted, ‘Shall we make
room for an upstart, a pretender, who comes from we know not
where?’ And another, ‘If he be one, we are more
than one; and the stronger can hold his own.’ And one
shouted one thing, and one another; for they were hot and wild
with wine: but all caught swords and lances off the wall, where
the weapons hung around, and sprang forward to Theseus, and
Theseus sprang forward to them.</p>
<p>And he cried, ‘Go in peace, if you will, my cousins; but
if not, your blood be on your own heads.’ But they
rushed at him; and then stopped short and railed him, as curs
stop and bark when they rouse a lion from his lair.</p>
<p>But one hurled a lance from the rear rank, which past close by
Theseus’ head; and at that Theseus rushed forward, and the
fight began indeed. Twenty against one they fought, and yet
Theseus beat them all; and those who were left fled down into the
town, where the people set on them, and drove them out, till
Theseus was left alone in the palace, with Ægeus his
new-found father. But before nightfall all the town came
up, with victims, and dances, and songs; and they offered
sacrifices to Athené, and rejoiced all the night long,
because their king had found a noble son, and an heir to his
royal house.</p>
<p>So Theseus stayed with his father all the winter: and when the
spring equinox drew near, all the Athenians grew sad and silent,
and Theseus saw it, and asked the reason; but no one would answer
him a word.</p>
<p>Then he went to his father, and asked him: but Ægeus
turned away his face and wept.</p>
<p>‘Do not ask, my son, beforehand, about evils which must
happen: it is enough to have to face them when they
come.’</p>
<p>And when the spring equinox came, a herald came to Athens, and
stood in the market, and cried, ‘O people and King of
Athens, where is your yearly tribute?’ Then a great
lamentation arose throughout the city. But Theseus stood up
to the herald, and cried—</p>
<p>‘And who are you, dog-faced, who dare demand tribute
here? If I did not reverence your herald’s staff, I
would brain you with this club.’</p>
<p>And the herald answered proudly, for he was a grave and
ancient man—</p>
<p>‘Fair youth, I am not dog-faced or shameless; but I do
my master’s bidding, Minos, the King of hundred-citied
Crete, the wisest of all kings on earth. And you must be
surely a stranger here, or you would know why I come, and that I
come by right.’</p>
<p>‘I am a stranger here. Tell me, then, why you
come.’</p>
<p>‘To fetch the tribute which King Ægeus promised to
Minos, and confirmed his promise with an oath. For Minos
conquered all this land, and Megara which lies to the east, when
he came hither with a great fleet of ships, enraged about the
murder of his son. For his son Androgeos came hither to the
Panathenaic games, and overcame all the Greeks in the sports, so
that the people honoured him as a hero. But when
Ægeus saw his valour, he envied him, and feared lest he
should join the sons of Pallas, and take away the sceptre from
him. So he plotted against his life, and slew him basely,
no man knows how or where. Some say that he waylaid him by
Oinoe, on the road which goes to Thebes; and some that he sent
him against the bull of Marathon, that the beast might kill
him. But Ægeus says that the young men killed him
from envy, because he had conquered them in the games. So
Minos came hither and avenged him, and would not depart till this
land had promised him tribute—seven youths and seven
maidens every year, who go with me in a black-sailed ship, till
they come to hundred-citied Crete.’</p>
<p>And Theseus ground his teeth together, and said, ‘Wert
thou not a herald I would kill thee for saying such things of my
father; but I will go to him, and know the truth.’ So
he went to his father, and asked him; but he turned away his head
and wept, and said, ‘Blood was shed in the land unjustly,
and by blood it is avenged. Break not my heart by
questions; it is enough to endure in silence.’</p>
<p>Then Theseus groaned inwardly, and said, ‘I will go
myself with these youths and maidens, and kill Minos upon his
royal throne.’</p>
<p>And Ægeus shrieked, and cried, ‘You shall not go,
my son, the light of my old age, to whom alone I look to rule
this people after I am dead and gone. You shall not go, to
die horribly, as those youths and maidens die; for Minos thrusts
them into a labyrinth, which Daidalos made for him among the
rocks,—Daidalos the renegade, the accursed, the pest of
this his native land. From that labyrinth no one can
escape, entangled in its winding ways, before they meet the
Minotaur, the monster who feeds upon the flesh of men.
There he devours them horribly, and they never see this land
again.’</p>
<p>Then Theseus grew red, and his ears tingled, and his heart
beat loud in his bosom. And he stood awhile like a tall
stone pillar on the cliffs above some hero’s grave; and at
last he spoke—</p>
<p>‘Therefore all the more I will go with them, and slay
the accursed beast. Have I not slain all evil-doers and
monsters, that I might free this land? Where are
Periphetes, and Sinis, and Kerkuon, and Phaia the wild sow?
Where are the fifty sons of Pallas? And this Minotaur shall
go the road which they have gone, and Minos himself, if he dare
stay me.’</p>
<p>‘But how will you slay him, my son? For you must
leave your club and your armour behind, and be cast to the
monster, defenceless and naked like the rest.’</p>
<p>And Theseus said, ‘Are there no stones in that
labyrinth; and have I not fists and teeth? Did I need my
club to kill Kerkuon, the terror of all mortal men?’</p>
<p>Then Ægeus clung to his knees; but he would not hear;
and at last he let him go, weeping bitterly, and said only this
one word—</p>
<p>‘Promise me but this, if you return in peace, though
that may hardly be: take down the black sail of the ship (for I
shall watch for it all day upon the cliffs), and hoist instead a
white sail, that I may know afar off that you are
safe.’</p>
<p>And Theseus promised, and went out, and to the market-place
where the herald stood, while they drew lots for the youths and
maidens, who were to sail in that doleful crew. And the
people stood wailing and weeping, as the lot fell on this one and
on that; but Theseus strode into the midst, and
cried—‘Here is a youth who needs no lot. I
myself will be one of the seven.’</p>
<p>And the herald asked in wonder, ‘Fair youth, know you
whither you are going?’</p>
<p>And Theseus said, ‘I know. Let us go down to the
black-sailed ship.’</p>
<p>So they went down to the black-sailed ship, seven maidens, and
seven youths, and Theseus before them all, and the people
following them lamenting. But Theseus whispered to his
companions, ‘Have hope, for the monster is not
immortal. Where are Periphetes, and Sinis, and Sciron, and
all whom I have slain?’ Then their hearts were
comforted a little; but they wept as they went on board, and the
cliffs of Sunium rang, and all the isles of the Ægean Sea,
with the voice of their lamentation, as they sailed on toward
their deaths in Crete.</p>
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