.

Then AEgeus turned to all the people and cried, "Behold my son!"

But the cousins were angry and drew their swords against Theseus.
Twenty against one they fought, and yet Theseus beat them all, till at
last he was left alone in the palace with his new-found father.

But before nightfall all the town came up, with dances and songs,
because the King had found an heir to his royal house.

So Theseus stayed with his father all the winter through, and when
spring drew near, he saw all the people of Athens grow sad and silent.
And he asked the reason of the silence and the sadness, 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.

But when spring had come, a herald stood in the market-place 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 before the herald and cried, "I am a stranger
here. Tell me, then, why you come?"

"To fetch the tribute which King AEgeus promised to King Minos. Blood
was shed here unjustly, and King Minos came to avenge it, and would
not leave Athens till the land had promised him tribute--seven youths
and seven maidens every year, who go with me in a black-sailed ship."

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

But AEgeus shrieked and cried, "You shall not go, my son, you shall not
go to die horribly, as those youths and maidens die. For Minos thrusts
them into a labyrinth, and no one can escape from 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."

And Theseus said, "Therefore all the more will I go with them, and
slay the accursed Minotaur."

Then AEgeus clung to his knees, but Theseus would not stay, and at
last he let him go, weeping bitterly, and saying only this last word,
"Promise me but this, if you return in peace, though that may hardly
be. Take down the black sail of the ship, 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 and drew lots for the youths and maidens who were to sail
in that sad ship.

The people stood wailing and weeping as th