“Is this the kind of bed on which you have your guests lie down?” he asked.

But Procrustes answered not a word.  Then Theseus brought out the ax and the ropes and the pulleys, and asked him what they were for, and why they were hidden in the chamber.  He was still silent, and could do nothing now but tremble and weep.

“Is it true,” said Theseus, “that you have lured hundreds of travelers into your den only to rob them?  Is it true that it is your wont to fasten them in this bed, and then chop off their legs or stretch them out until they fit the iron frame?  Tell me, is this true?”

“It is true! it is true!” sobbed Procrustes; “and now kindly touch the spring above my head and let me go, and you shall have everything that I possess.”

But Theseus turned away.  “You are caught,” he said, “in the trap which you set for others and for me.  There is no mercy for the man who shows no mercy;” and he went out of the room, and left the wretch to perish by his own cruel device.

Theseus looked through the house and found there great wealth of gold and silver and costly things which Procrustes had taken from the strangers who had fallen into his hands.  He went into the dining hall, and there indeed was the table spread with a rich feast of meats and drinks and delicacies such as no king would scorn; but there was a seat and a plate for only the host, and none at all for guests.

Then the girl whose fair face Theseus had seen among the vines, came running into the house; and she seized the young hero’s hands and blessed and thanked him because he had rid the world of the cruel Procrustes.

“Only a month ago,” she said, “my father, a rich merchant of Athens, was traveling towards Eleusis, and I was with him, happy and care-free as any bird in the green woods.  This robber lured us into his den, for we had much gold with us.  My father, he stretched upon his iron bed; but me, he made his slave.”

Then Theseus called together all the inmates of the house, poor wretches whom Procrustes had forced to serve him; and he parted the robber’s spoils among them and told them that they were free to go wheresoever they wished.  And on the next day he went on, through the narrow crooked ways among the mountains and hills, and came at last to the plain of Athens, and saw the noble city and, in its midst, the rocky height where the great Temple of Athena stood; and, a little way from the temple, he saw the white walls of the palace of the king.

When Theseus entered the city and went walking up the street everybody wondered who the tall, fair youth could be.  But the fame of his deeds had gone before him, and soon it was whispered that this was the hero who had slain the robbers in the mountains and had wrestled with Cercyon at Eleusis and had caught Procrustes in his own cunning trap.

“Tell us no such thing!” said some butchers who were driving their loaded carts to market.  “The lad is better suited to sing sweet songs to the ladies than to fight robbers and wrestle with giants.”