oice of Ariadne calling him back. He could find his way back
through the labyrinth and come to her. He stepped back, and the door
closed on the Minotaur, the dread monster of Crete.

In an instant Theseus pushed the door again. He stood within the hall
where the Minotaur was, and the heavy door shut behind him. He looked
again on that dark, bull-faced thing. It reared up as a horse rears and
Theseus saw that it would crash down on him and tear him with its
dragon claws. With a great bound he went far away from where the
monster crashed down. Then Theseus faced it: he saw its thick lips and
its slobbering mouth; he saw that its skin was thick and hard.

He drew near the monster, his sword in his hand. He struck at its eyes,
and his sword made a great dint. But no blood came, for the Minotaur
was a bloodless monster. From its mouth and nostrils came a draft that
covered him with a chilling slime.

Then it rushed upon him and overthrew him, and Theseus felt its
terrible weight upon him. But he thrust his sword upward, and it reared
up again, screaming with pain. Theseus drew himself away, and then he
saw it searching around and around, and he knew he had made it
sightless. Then it faced him; all the more fearful it was because from
its wounds no blood came.

Anger flowed into Theseus when he saw the monster standing frightfully
before him; he thought of all the youths and maidens that this
bloodless thing had destroyed, and all the youths and maidens that it
would destroy if he did not slay it now. Angrily he rushed upon it with
his great sword. It clawed and tore him, and it opened wide its most
evil mouth as if to draw him into it. But again he sprang at it; he
thrust his great sword through its neck, and he left his sword there.

With the last of his strength he pulled open the heavy door and he went
out from the hall where the Minotaur was. He picked up the thread and
he began to wind it as he had wound the other thread on his way down.
On he went, through passage after passage, through chamber after
chamber. His mind was dizzy, and he had little thought for the way he
was going. His wounds and the chill that the monster had breathed into
him and his horror of the fearful and bloodless thing made his mind
almost forsake him. He kept the thread in his hand and he wound it as
he went on through the labyrinth. He stumbled and the thread broke. He
went on for a few steps and then he went back to find the thread that
h