Daedalus was one of the cleverest men in all of Crete. He had created a maze that was called a Labyrinth. Inside the Labyrinth lived a Minotaur, a half –man half-bull creature. King Minos used the Labyrinth and the Minotaur to sacrifice people to the gods.
During one such sacrifice, Daedalus told a young man Theseus how to escape from the labyrinth by tying a ball of string at the entrance so that he could retrace his steps after killing the Minotaur. Theseus was successful in his quest, and was able to kill the Minotaur.
King Minos was livid because he knew Daedalus must have helped Theseus. Therefore, the King imprisoned Daedalus and his son Icarus in the Labyrinth. Daedalus knew that they could not escape on the ground; therefore, he looked to the sky. He constructed wings for himself and his son.
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As in most stories, children don’t always listen to their elders. Icarus was so excited about flying that he did fly too close to the sun. The glue melted, and he fell into the sea and was lost. Daedalus flew to Sicily and was taken in by the king.
King Minos was very angry, and he made up his mind to find Daedalus. Knowing how smart Daedalus was, he devised a contest to test Daedalus’ mind. The king offered a great reward for anyone who could pass a thread through a spiraled sea shell. Daedalus drilled a small hole in the shell and attached a string to an ant. Then he closed the hole and waited. Finally the ant crawled through the shell and came out the other