The life of Theseus, from his childhood, to when he meets his father Aegeus and then his life in Crete with the Minotaur. But a slightly different story than the one commonly recounted. Minos, the king of Crete, required seven boys and seven girls every year as a tribute for the death of his son. But in this version, the young people don’t go into the labyrinth to be eaten by the Minotaur, they are bull dancers, risking their lives nevertheless every day, and the labyrinth is simply the Minoan Palace of Knossos. Still, Theseus has to survive and become the leader capable of saving everyone from the cruel and ugly son of Minos. The story ends with the return of Theseus to Athens. A fascinating and realistic version of this legend, becoming a more historical account than a tale.
“As she told me later, she stood at first in the doorway of the Myrtle House, for fear of the dark within. When the levin-light lit heaven, she saw Troizen over the water, and the boat already far away; when it ceased her eyes were dulled with it and she saw nothing. Presently came a great clap close at hand, the sound and the flash together; and there before her, on the rocky slab outside the porch, all gleaming and glittering in a clear blue light, stood a kingly naked man, with dripping hair and beard and a ribbon of seaweed on his shoulder. What with her awe of the place, and her being overwrought, and the old woman’s tales upon the way, she did not doubt the Lord Poseidon himself had come to claim her. The next flash showed her to your father sunk on her knees, her arms crossed on her bosom, waiting the pleasure of the god. So he lifted her up, and kissed her, and told her who he was. Presently in the house she covered him, with her foxskin cloak; and that was your beginning.”