h hung over
the surging sea. Even so did Theseus to him, and journeying on to the
banks of Kephisos, stretched the robber, Prokroustes, on the bed on
which he had twisted and tortured the limbs of his victims till they
died.

Thus, amid the joyous shoutings of the people whom he had set free,
Theseus entered into the city of his fathers, and the rumor of him was
brought to Aigeus, the King. Then the memory of the days that were
gone came back to Aigeus, and his heart smote him as he thought within
himself that this must be the child of Aithra, whom he had left
mourning on the shore of Troizen. But soon there was a strife in the
city, for among the mightiest of the people were many who mocked at
Theseus, and said, "Who is this stranger that men should exalt him
thus, as though he came of the race of heroes? Let him show that he is
the child of Aigeus, if he would win the heritage which he claims." So
was Theseus brought before the King, and a blush of shame passed over
the old man's face when he saw the sword and sandals which he had left
beneath the great stone, near the Troizenian shore. Few words only he
spake of welcome, and none of love or kindness for his child or for
the wife who still yearned for the love of the former days. Then, at
his father's bidding, Theseus made ready to go forth once again on his
path of toil, and he chafed not against the hard lot which had fallen
to his portion. Only he said, "The love of a father would sweeten my
labor, but my mother's love is with me still, and the battle is for
right and for law."

So in after-times the minstrels sang of the glorious deeds of Theseus
the brave and fair. They told how at last at the bidding of his father
he went forth from the gates of Athens and smote the bull which
ravaged the broad plains of Marathon, and how in the secret maze of
the labyrinth he smote the Minotauros. They sang of his exploits in
the day when the Amazons did battle with the men of Athens--how he
went with Meleagros and his chieftains to the chase of the boar in
Kalydon--how with the heroes in the ship Argo he brought back the
golden fleece from Kolchis. They told how at last he went down with
Peirithoos, his comrade, into the gloomy kingdom of Hades and seized
on the daughter of Demeter, to bring her to the land of living men.
They sang of the fierce wrath of Hades when his lightnings burst forth
and smote Peirithoos--of the dark prison-house where Theseus lay while
many a rolli