ed for mercy;
but Theseus stood over him and looked him straight in the eye.
"Is this the kind of bed on which you have your guests lie down?" he
asked.
But Procrustes answered not a word. Then Theseus brought out the ax and
the ropes and the pulleys, and asked him what they were for, and why
they were hidden in the chamber. He was still silent, and could do
nothing now but tremble and weep.
"Is it true," said Theseus, "that you have lured hundreds of travelers
into your den only to rob them? Is it true that it is your wont to
fasten them in this bed, and then chop off their legs or stretch them
out until they fit the iron frame? Tell me, is this true?"
"It is true! it is true!" sobbed Procrustes; "and now kindly touch the
spring above my head and let me go, and you shall have everything that I
possess."
But Theseus turned away. "You are caught," he said, "in the trap which
you set for others and for me. There is no mercy for the man who shows
no mercy;" and he went out of the room, and left the wretch to perish by
his own cruel device.
Theseus looked through the house and found there great wealth of gold
and silver and costly things which Procrustes had taken from the
strangers who had fallen into his hands. He went into the dining hall,
and there indeed was the table spread with a rich feast of meats and
drinks and delicacies such as no king would scorn; but there was a seat
and a plate for only the host, and none at all for guests.
Then the girl whose fair face Theseus had seen among the vines, came
running into the house; and she seized the young hero's hands and
blessed and thanked him because he had rid the world of the cruel
Procrustes.
"Only a month ago," she said, "my father, a rich merchant of Athens, was
traveling towards Eleusis, and I was with him, happy and care-free as
any bird in the green woods. This robber lured us into his den, for we
had much gold with us. My father, he stretched upon his iron bed; but
me, he made his slave."
Then Theseus called together all the inmates of the house, poor wretches
whom Procrustes had forced to serve him; and he parted the robber's
spoils among them and told them that they were free to go wheresoever
they wished. And on the next day he went on, through the narrow crooked
ways among the mountains and hills, and came at last to the plain of
Athens, and saw the noble city and, in its midst, the rocky height where
the great Temple of Athena stood; and
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