The Heroes Part 17

So aegeus came out into the hall; and when Theseus saw him, his heart leapt into his mouth, and he longed to fall on his neck and welcome him; but he controlled himself, and said, 'My father may not wish for me, after all. I will try him before I discover myself;' and he bowed low before aegeus, and said, 'I have delivered the king's realm from many monsters; therefore I am come to ask a reward of the king.'

And old aegeus looked on him, and loved him, as what fond heart would not have done? But he only sighed, and said-

'It is little that I can give you, n.o.ble lad, and nothing that is worthy of you; for surely you are no mortal man, or at least no mortal's son.'

'All I ask,' said Theseus, 'is to eat and drink at your table.'

'That I can give you,' said aegeus, 'if at least I am master in my own hall.'

Then he bade them put a seat for Theseus, and set before him the best of the feast; and Theseus sat and ate so much, that all the company wondered at him: but always he kept his club by his side.

But Medeia the dark witch-woman had been watching him all the while. She saw how aegeus turned red and pale when the lad said that he came from Troezene. She saw, too, how his heart was opened toward Theseus; and how Theseus bore himself before all the sons of Pallas, like a lion among a pack of curs. And she said to herself, 'This youth will be master here; perhaps he is nearer to aegeus already than mere fancy. At least the Pallantilds will have no chance by the side of such as he.'

Then she went back into her chamber modestly, while Theseus ate and drank; and all the servants whispered, 'This, then, is the man who killed the monsters! How n.o.ble are his looks, and how huge his size! Ah, would that he were our master's son!'

But presently Medeia came forth, decked in all her jewels, and her rich Eastern robes, and looking more beautiful than the day, so that all the guests could look at nothing else. And in her right hand she held a golden cup, and in her left a flask of gold; and she came up to Theseus, and spoke in a sweet, soft, winning voice-

'Hail to the hero, the conqueror, the unconquered, the destroyer of all evil things! Drink, hero, of my charmed cup, which gives rest after every toil, which heals all wounds, and pours new life into the veins.

Drink of my cup, for in it sparkles the wine of the East, and Nepenthe, the comfort of the Immortals.'

And as she spoke, she poured the flask into the cup; and the fragrance of the wine spread through the hall, like the scent of thyme and roses.

And Theseus looked up in her fair face and into her deep dark eyes. And as he looked, he shrank and shuddered; for they were dry like the eyes of a snake. And he rose, and said, 'The wine is rich and fragrant, and the wine-bearer as fair as the Immortals; but let her pledge me first herself in the cup, that the wine may be the sweeter from her lips.'

Then Medeia turned pale, and stammered, 'Forgive me, fair hero; but I am ill, and dare drink no wine.'

And Theseus looked again into her eyes, and cried, 'Thou shalt pledge me in that cup, or die.' And he lifted up his brazen club, while all the guests looked on aghast.

Medeia shrieked a fearful shriek, and dashed the cup to the ground, and fled; and where the wine flowed over the marble pavement, the stone bubbled, and crumbled, and hissed, under the fierce venom of the draught.

But Medeia called her dragon chariot, and sprang into it and fled aloft, away over land and sea, and no man saw her more.

And aegeus cried, 'What hast thou done?' But Theseus pointed to the stone, 'I have rid the land of an enchantment: now I will rid it of one more.'

And he came close to aegeus, and drew from his bosom the sword and the sandals, and said the words which his mother bade him.

And aegeus stepped back a pace, and looked at the lad till his eyes grew dim; and then he cast himself on his neck and wept, and Theseus wept on his neck, till they had no strength left to weep more.

Then aegeus turned to all the people, and cried, 'Behold my son, children of Cecrops, a better man than his father was before him.'

Who, then, were mad but the Pallantids, though they had been mad enough before? And one shouted, 'Shall we make room for an upstart, a pretender, who comes from we know not where?' And another, 'If he be one, we are more than one; and the stronger can hold his own.' And one shouted one thing, and one another; for they were hot and wild with wine: but all caught swords and lances off the wall, where the weapons hung around, and sprang forward to Theseus, and Theseus sprang forward to them.

And he cried, 'Go in peace, if you will, my cousins; but if not, your blood be on your own heads.' But they rushed at him; and then stopped short and railed him, as curs stop and bark when they rouse a lion from his lair.

But one hurled a lance from the rear rank, which past close by Theseus'

head; and at that Theseus rushed forward, and the fight began indeed.

Twenty against one they fought, and yet Theseus beat them all; and those who were left fled down into the town, where the people set on them, and drove them out, till Theseus was left alone in the palace, with aegeus his new-found father. But before nightfall all the town came up, with victims, and dances, and songs; and they offered sacrifices to Athene, and rejoiced all the night long, because their king had found a n.o.ble son, and an heir to his royal house.

So Theseus stayed with his father all the winter: and when the spring equinox drew near, all the Athenians grew sad and silent, and Theseus saw it, and asked the reason; but no one would answer him a word.

Then he went to his father, and asked him: but aegeus turned away his face and wept.

'Do not ask, my son, beforehand, about evils which must happen: it is enough to have to face them when they come.'

And when the spring equinox came, a herald came to Athens, and stood in the market, and cried, 'O people and King of Athens, where is your yearly tribute?' Then a great lamentation arose throughout the city. But Theseus stood up to the herald, and cried-

'And who are you, dog-faced, who dare demand tribute here? If I did not reverence your herald's staff, I would brain you with this club.'

And the herald answered proudly, for he was a grave and ancient man-

'Fair youth, I am not dog-faced or shameless; but I do my master's bidding, Minos, the King of hundred-citied Crete, the wisest of all kings on earth. And you must be surely a stranger here, or you would know why I come, and that I come by right.'

'I am a stranger here. Tell me, then, why you come.'

'To fetch the tribute which King aegeus promised to Minos, and confirmed his promise with an oath. For Minos conquered all this land, and Megara which lies to the east, when he came hither with a great fleet of s.h.i.+ps, enraged about the murder of his son. For his son Androgeos came hither to the Panathenaic games, and overcame all the Greeks in the sports, so that the people honoured him as a hero. But when aegeus saw his valour, he envied him, and feared lest he should join the sons of Pallas, and take away the sceptre from him. So he plotted against his life, and slew him basely, no man knows how or where. Some say that he waylaid him by Oinoe, on the road which goes to Thebes; and some that he sent him against the bull of Marathon, that the beast might kill him. But aegeus says that the young men killed him from envy, because he had conquered them in the games. So Minos came hither and avenged him, and would not depart till this land had promised him tribute-seven youths and seven maidens every year, who go with me in a black-sailed s.h.i.+p, till they come to hundred-citied Crete.'

And Theseus ground his teeth together, and said, 'Wert thou not a herald I would kill thee for saying such things of my father; but I will go to him, and know the truth.' So he went to his father, and asked him; but he turned away his head and wept, and said, 'Blood was shed in the land unjustly, and by blood it is avenged. Break not my heart by questions; it is enough to endure in silence.'

Then Theseus groaned inwardly, and said, 'I will go myself with these youths and maidens, and kill Minos upon his royal throne.'

And aegeus shrieked, and cried, 'You shall not go, my son, the light of my old age, to whom alone I look to rule this people after I am dead and gone. You shall not go, to die horribly, as those youths and maidens die; for Minos thrusts them into a labyrinth, which Daidalos made for him among the rocks,-Daidalos the renegade, the accursed, the pest of this his native land. From that labyrinth no one can escape, entangled in its winding ways, before they meet the Minotaur, the monster who feeds upon the flesh of men. There he devours them horribly, and they never see this land again.'

Then Theseus grew red, and his ears tingled, and his heart beat loud in his bosom. And he stood awhile like a tall stone pillar on the cliffs above some hero's grave; and at last he spoke-

'Therefore all the more I will go with them, and slay the accursed beast.

Have I not slain all evil-doers and monsters, that I might free this land? Where are Periphetes, and Sinis, and Kerkuon, and Phaia the wild sow? Where are the fifty sons of Pallas? And this Minotaur shall go the road which they have gone, and Minos himself, if he dare stay me.'

'But how will you slay him, my son? For you must leave your club and your armour behind, and be cast to the monster, defenceless and naked like the rest.'

And Theseus said, 'Are there no stones in that labyrinth; and have I not fists and teeth? Did I need my club to kill Kerkuon, the terror of all mortal men?'

Then aegeus clung to his knees; but he would not hear; and at last he let him go, weeping bitterly, and said only this one word-

'Promise me but this, if you return in peace, though that may hardly be: take down the black sail of the s.h.i.+p (for I shall watch for it all day upon the cliffs), and hoist instead a white sail, that I may know afar off that you are safe.'

And Theseus promised, and went out, and to the market-place where the herald stood, while they drew lots for the youths and maidens, who were to sail in that doleful crew. And the people stood wailing and weeping, as the lot fell on this one and on that; but Theseus strode into the midst, and cried-'Here is a youth who needs no lot. I myself will be one of the seven.'

And the herald asked in wonder, 'Fair youth, know you whither you are going?'

And Theseus said, 'I know. Let us go down to the black-sailed s.h.i.+p.'

So they went down to the black-sailed s.h.i.+p, seven maidens, and seven youths, and Theseus before them all, and the people following them lamenting. But Theseus whispered to his companions, 'Have hope, for the monster is not immortal. Where are Periphetes, and Sinis, and Sciron, and all whom I have slain?' Then their hearts were comforted a little; but they wept as they went on board, and the cliffs of Sunium rang, and all the isles of the aegean Sea, with the voice of their lamentation, as they sailed on toward their deaths in Crete.

PART III HOW THESEUS SLEW THE MINOTAUR