“Has the king a son?” asked Minos.

The face of King AEgeus lost all its color and he trembled as he thought of a little child then with its mother at Troezen, on the other side of the Saronic Sea.  But the elders knew nothing about that child, and they answered: 

“Alas, no! he has no son; but he has fifty nephews who are eating up his substance and longing for the time to come when one of them shall be king; and, as we have said, it was they who slew the young prince, Androgeos.”

“I have naught to do with those fellows,” said Minos; “you may deal with them as you like.  But you ask what is the tribute that I require, and I will tell you.  Every year when the springtime comes and the roses begin to bloom, you shall choose seven of your noblest youths and seven of your fairest maidens, and shall send them to me in a ship which your king shall provide.  This is the tribute which you shall pay to me, Minos, king of Crete; and if you fail for a single time, or delay even a day, my soldiers shall tear down your walls and burn your city and put your men to the sword and sell your wives and children as slaves.”

“We agree to all this, O King,” said the elders; “for it is the least of two evils.  But tell us now, what shall be the fate of the seven youths and the seven maidens?”

“In Crete,” answered Minos, “there is a house called the Labyrinth, the like of which you have never seen.  In it there are a thousand chambers and winding ways, and whosoever goes even a little way into them can never find his way out again.  Into this house the seven youths and the seven maidens shall be thrust, and they shall be left there—­”

“To perish with hunger?” cried the elders.

“To be devoured by a monster whom men call the Minotaur,” said Minos.

Then King AEgeus and the elders covered their faces and wept and went slowly back into the city to tell their people of the sad and terrible conditions upon which Athens could alone be saved.

“It is better that a few should perish than that the whole city should be destroyed,” they said.

II.  THE TRIBUTE.

Years passed by.  Every spring when the roses began to bloom seven youths and seven maidens were put on board of a black-sailed ship and sent to Crete to pay the tribute which King Minos required.  In every house in Athens there was sorrow and dread, and the people lifted up their hands to Athena on the hilltop and cried out, “How long, O Queen of the Air, how long shall this thing be?”

In the meanwhile the little child at Troezen on the other side of the sea had grown to be a man.  His name, Theseus, was in everybody’s mouth, for he had done great deeds of daring; and at last he had come to Athens to find his father, King AEgeus, who had never heard whether he was alive or dead; and when the youth had made himself known, the king had welcomed him to his home and all the people were glad because so noble a prince had come to dwell among them and, in time, to rule over their city.