[Illustration:  “The jailer opened the door at her bidding.”]

Theseus thanked the beautiful princess and promised her again that if he should live to go back to Athens she should go with him and be his wife.  Then with a prayer to Athena, Ariadne hastened away.

IV.  THE LABYRINTH.

As soon as the sun was up the guards came to lead the young prisoners to the Labyrinth.  They did not see the sword which Theseus had under his cloak, nor the tiny ball of silk which he held in his closed hand.  They led the youths and maidens a long way into the Labyrinth, turning here and there, back and forth, a thousand different times, until it seemed certain that they could never find their way out again.  Then the guards, by a secret passage which they alone knew, went out and left them, as they had left many others before, to wander about until they should be found by the terrible Minotaur.

“Stay close by me,” said Theseus to his companions, “and with the help of Athena who dwells in her temple home in our own fair city, I will save you.”

Then he drew his sword and stood in the narrow way before them; and they all lifted up their hands and prayed to Athena.

For hours they stood there, hearing no sound, and seeing nothing but the smooth, high walls on either side of the passage and the calm blue sky so high above them.  Then the maidens sat down upon the ground and covered their faces and sobbed, and said: 

“Oh, that he would come and put an end to our misery and our lives.”

At last, late in the day, they heard a bellowing, low and faint as though far away.  They listened and soon heard it again, a little louder and very fierce and dreadful.

“It is he! it is he!” cried Theseus; “and now for the fight!”

Then he shouted, so loudly that the walls of the Labyrinth answered back, and the sound was carried upward to the sky and outward to the rocks and cliffs of the mountains.  The Minotaur heard him, and his bellowings grew louder and fiercer every moment.

“He is coming!” cried Theseus, and he ran forward to meet the beast.  The seven maidens shrieked, but tried to stand up bravely and face their fate; and the six young men stood together with firm-set teeth and clinched fists, ready to fight to the last.

Soon the Minotaur came into view, rushing down the passage towards Theseus, and roaring most terribly.  He was twice as tall as a man, and his head was like that of a bull with huge sharp horns and fiery eyes and a mouth as large as a lion’s; but the young men could not see the lower part of his body for the cloud of dust which he raised in running.  When he saw Theseus with the sword in his hand coming to meet him, he paused, for no one had ever faced him in that way before.  Then he put his head down, and rushed forward, bellowing.  But Theseus leaped quickly aside, and made a sharp thrust with his sword as he passed, and hewed off one of the monster’s legs above the knee.