Long ago, in the city of Athens, there lived a young boy named Theseus. He spent his free time learning how to fight because the children of Athens were different from other children. They were afraid and they had good reason to be. Every nine years, King Minos of Crete demanded that Athens send seven boys and seven girls to his city to be fed to a monstrous creature called the Minotaur. Feared for his ferocious nature, the Minotaur (who was half man and half bull) was kept in a dizzying maze called the Labyrinth. For years, the people of Athens had been forced to obey King Minos, and for years they had sent their sons and daughters to die. No child had ever returned from that fateful trip to Crete.
However, when King Minos’s ship next came to Athens to collect seven boys and seven girls, Theseus surprised everyone in the city by volunteering. “I will go and face the Minotaur!” he shouted, stepping forward and facing the crowd. His friends and family feared he may be welcoming an early death, but they did not realize that Theseus had a plan. He was going to kill the Minotaur.
When Theseus and the other thirteen children arrived in Crete, they were not made to feel welcome. After all, the people of Crete were looking forward to watching the Minotaur eat them. Everyone in the city was cruel to the children, except one. Her name was Ariadne, and she was the daughter of King Minos. Ariadne, who was kind and brave, did not like to see other people suffer (especially at the hands of a monster such as the Minotaur) so she secretly gave Theseus a sword and a ball of string to aid him in his terrifying journey through the Labyrinth.
Instead of panicking when his time came to enter the Labyrinth, Theseus tied one end of his string to the door post. He began moving through the countless twists and turns cautiously, making sure to never let go of his ball of string. Somewhere, not too far away, the Minotaur was waiting. All of a sudden, in the darkness, Theseus found the Minotaur, alone and sleeping. He wasted no time, killing the monster with one strike of his sword. Quickly and quietly, he followed the string to find his way out of the maze, but the deadly game was not quite over. Ariadne arrived to help Theseus free the other thirteen children, and then they all raced to escape Crete. With King Minos and his men mere seconds behind them, the children reached a ship, which was ready to leave, and sailed away to safety. King Minos, who was devastated by the death of his monster and the loss of his daughter, never terrorized Athens again.
| Chalk