that Theseus would return alive to him. Then a ship came
into the harbor. It had black sails. AEgeus did not know that Theseus
was aboard of it, and that Theseus in the hurry of his flight and in
the sadness of his parting from Ariadne had not thought of taking out
the white sail that his father had given to Nausitheus.

Joyously Theseus sailed into the harbor, having slain the Minotaur and
lifted for ever the tribute put upon Athens. Joyously he sailed into
the harbor, bringing back to their parents the youths and maidens of
Athens. But the king, his father, saw the black sails on his ship, and
straightway the thread of his life broke, and he died on the roof of
the tower which he had built to look out on the sea.

Theseus landed on the shore of his own country. He had the ship drawn
up on the beach and he made sacrifices of thanksgiving to the gods.
Then he sent messengers to the city to announce his return. They went
toward the city, these joyful messengers, but when they came to the
gate they heard the sounds of mourning and lamentation. The mourning
and the lamentation were for the death of the king, Theseus's father.
They hurried back and they came to Theseus where he stood on the beach.
They brought a wreath of victory for him, but as they put it into his
hand they told him of the death of his father. Then Theseus left the
wreath on the ground, and he wept for the death of AEgeus--of AEgeus, the
hero, who had left the sword under the stone for him before he was born.

The men and women who came to the beach wept and laughed as they
clasped in their arms the children brought back to them. And Theseus
stood there, silent and bowed; the memory of his last moments with his
father, of his fight with the Minotaur, of his parting with
Ariadne--all flowed back upon him. He stood there with head bowed, the
man who might not put upon his brows the wreath of victory that had
been brought to him.

VIII

There had come into the city a youth of great valor whose name was
Peirithous: from a far country he had come, filled with a desire of
meeting Theseus, whose fame had come to him. The youth was in Athens at
the time Theseus returned. He went down to the beach with the
townsfolk, and he saw Theseus standing alone with his head bowed down.
He went to him and he spoke, and Theseus lifted his head and he saw
before him a young man of strength and beauty. He looked upon him, and
the thought of high deeds came into his mind