Who, when the Athenians he did beat
Demanded in tribute that eighteen youth
Nine girls and nine boys, in truth
Be given and fed to the Minotaur
A dreadful creature, fangs and fur.
Every nine years, a boat would sail
Full of Athenians, proud and pale
To the distant Island of Crete, so far
To be fed to the Minotaur.
The king of Athens was not pleased
It rent his heart when these children were seized
He wept bitter tears as he sat on his throne
It seemed that he heard their dying groan.
He had a son, a handsome boy
His great old father’s pride and joy.
Once, as the boat came, demanding its prey
He came to his father, and this he did say:
“Father, send me. I’ll go to Crete
This hideous monster at once to defeat!"
The king begged that he would keep to Athens
And not go haughty to evil beasts’ dens.
He stood up straighter, and promised the king
To kill this great beast, have it tooth, fist, or wing.
The great man consented, consented at last
He saw the boy mount and climb up the mast
He knew that the right thing was done by his son
But he wished ‘twas not his that was the brave one!
The ship it set sail, and flew o’er the seas,
On a friendly, but a bloodthirsty breeze
The black sail in place, just as the Prince swore
(It was to stay if he returnéd no more
If Theseus victorious returned
The white sail of triumph instead would be turned.)
They reached the Cretians very soon
Some of the girls were fain to swoon
But Theseus, sturdy and handsome and strong
Soon calmed their fears and proved they were wrong
He told them that he would be going in first
If he returned not they would know the worst
But if he came back, then the monster was dead
And then would they free their country from dread.
His disembarked first, with his head held quite proud
His eagle black eye scanned the malicious crowd
His fine head of hair and his handsome attire
Caught the eye of a princess of the Empire
She loved him, they said, from that moment on
And resolved to help him ‘fore the bloody red dawn.
The captives were chained and taken away
They were to be eaten before the next day!
The princess of Crete (Ariadne her name)
Followed the guards to where Theseus was chained.
She leaned through the window, and whispered soft
“Theseus, prince!" On the ground from aloft
She dropped these items on his dungeon floor
A short handled dagger, as good as a sword
And a long ball of golden thread, tied up with care
She softly and silently put them there.
“The building in which the Minotaur lies
Was built by the great wizard, Daedalus
You cannot get out, once you have got in.
Tie the end of this ball to the first wall within;
Then unwind it slowly wherever you tread
When you’ve reached the centre, kill this Minotaur dead!
Then follow the leading of the silken cord
Till you’ve reached the entrance, then home to your lord!”
She said it quite swiftly, in an undertone
Then quickly she fled, back to her home.
He swore that he’d take this beauty unseen
Back home to great Athens, and make her his queen!
Meanwhile things other than courtship he tried
The guards came as soon as the last sunlight died
And swept him away the beast’s winding lair
At the mouth of the Labyrinth, they left him there
The prince had no fear; no, he hefted his sword
And began to unwind the gold silken cord
To the edge of the Labyrinth, he tied it with care
And plunged into the maze, with unusual dare.
He stopped after hours; he’d smelt such a smell!
The most awful that any one’s ever heard tell
It stank in his nose, as he headed on in
He realised the smell was of bull’s foul kin.
At last, in the centre, he encountered him
As broad, and black, as the stories grim
He drew his dagger; held it high
And monstrous was his battle cry
“I am come, you Minotaur!
I have traveled from afar
To seek you in your maze like hive
We both shall not leave alive!”
The monster gave a mighty roar
Eager, he, for blood and gore
But the prince was ready for this leap
His dagger he drew, he drove it deep!
They circled, once, twice, one attacked
The princeling with his dagger hacked
The giant with his jaws and force
The battling was crude and course
A strike—a struggle—the prince was struck
But he was saved by pure luck
For as the Minotaur sprang to sup
He tripped and sprawled—Theseus leapt up
Long they grappled, and hard
From miles away, the frightened guards
Heard the sound of their terrific fight
Of tooth and jaw and sword and might
Finally, the victor stood
Theseus, his oath made good!
He retrieved the golden ball of thread
And for the entrance he did head
Fierce pride was in his noble face
The pride of the whole Athenian race
Victorious he marched, rewinding the thread,
And sang of victory and the brute dead
At the entrance he stood proud
And lusty his youthful voice and loud
He called out, “Victory! The Monster is slain!
Your hateful man-eater, deathly bane,
Lies cold and dead, at this very hour
Before Theseus he did cower!”
He discovered the Athenian seventeen
Who lay in darkened cells unseen
He set them all free, every one,
This youth, the conqueror, the king’s son!
Away they stole, but forgot not
Ariadne, princess, for whom he’d fought.
But alas! With bitter the sweet is alloyed
The good prince forgot, in his mad joy
The black sail of death, flying over his head
When the king saw the ship, he thought Theseus dead
From a high mountain crag he leapt
Glad to go where Theseus slept.
The kingdom mourned, even in its joy
For dead was the man, though alive was the boy
And Theseus, returning to home
Cast his tearful eyes up to heaven’s proud dome
“Though dead is the beast, yet misery lives
O, God, with my triumph, tragedy gives!”
*Author's note--I've tried to abbreviate this a little, and I've made some rhythm alterations. The last line is an imitation of format in Homeric and Platonic translations, where the multiple gods were referred to in singular.
