Chapter 11 Chapter Eleven Daedalus and Icarus

Daedalus of Athens was the son of Metion, great-grandson of Erechtheus, and a member of the Erech tribe.He was a great artist, an architect and a sculptor.People all over the world appreciate his works of art very much, saying that his statues are creations with souls, because when the former masters created stone statues, they made the stone statues close their eyes, connect their hands to their bodies, and hang down weakly.And he was the first to make the carved figure open its eyes, stretch out its hands forward, and spread its legs as if walking.However, Daedalus was a vain and jealous man.This defect tempted him to do evil, and made him miserable.

Daedalus had a nephew named Talos.Talos learned from him, but he was more gifted than Daedalus, and he was determined to achieve greater achievements.As a child, Talos had already invented the potter's wheel, using the jaws of a snake as a saw, and sawing through a small board with the teeth.Later, he built a chainsaw in the same way, thus becoming the inventor of the saw.He also invented the compass.At first, they connected two iron rods, and then let one of them fix the position and let the other rotate.He was a good thinker and invented other ingenious tools.And all this he did alone, without the help of his uncle.So he became famous and won a great reputation.Daedalus was worried that his students would overtake him, and a jealous rage welled up, so he pushed him off the wall of Athens insidiously, and brutally killed his students.When Daedalus buried the body, he was very frightened and panicked. When someone found him, he lied that he was burying a snake.However, he was still charged with murder and was summoned and tried by the Supreme Court of Athens, Greece.The result was found guilty.

But he escaped, and in a panic, lost his way in Attica, wandered for a long time, and at last came to Crete.He found King Minos and lived there.He became the king's friend and was greatly respected as an artist of renown.The king commissioned him to build a house for the Minotaur, a monster with the head of a minotaur, so that everyone who entered would feel dizzy and disoriented.Daedalus had a flexible mind and devoted himself to building a labyrinth.The twists and turns inside make people who enter can't help being dazzled, and their feet can't help but walk to the side road.The innumerable passages intersect each other, like the circuitous waters of the Miander of Frigia, which now flows forward, now reverses, and returns to its source.After the labyrinth was built, Daedalus went in to check, but he could hardly find the exit.The Minotaur is hidden deep in the labyrinth.According to ancient regulations, the city of Athens must send seven virgins to the King of Crete every nine years as sacrifices to the Minotaur.

Although Daedalus was praised, he always felt nostalgic for his hometown because he had been away from home for a long time, and he felt that the king actually did not trust him and lacked sincerity to him, so he was unwilling to waste time on this isolated island lifetime.He tried to escape. After much deliberation, he said happily that although Minos could block my way by land and water, in the air I was free.He began to collect and arrange feathers, large and small, and put together the smallest and shortest feathers into long hairs, which looked like natural ones.He tied the feathers in the middle with twine and sealed the ends with wax.Finally, bend the feathers slightly to look exactly like a bird's wing.

Daedalus had a son named Icarus.The child likes to stand by his side and help his father with his little hands. Father let him fiddle with feathers casually, watching his clumsy movements with a smile.Finally everything is done.Daedalus tried it out by attaching wings to his body.He flew up like a bird, rose gently into the sky, and then came down again. He taught his son Icarus how to manipulate.He had made him a pair of little wings. "Be careful," he exhorted, "you must fly in mid-air. If you fly too low, your wings will touch the water, and they will become heavy when wet, and you will be dragged in the sea; Too high, and the feathers on the wings will catch fire because they are near the sun." Daedalus said, binding the wings to his son on his shoulders, but his hands trembled slightly.Finally, he hugged his son and gave him an encouraging kiss.

The two puffed up their wings and gradually rose into the sky.The father flew ahead, flapping his wings carefully like an old bird flying with its first-time fledglings, turning his head from time to time to see how his son was flying.Everything started off fine.Soon they reached the island of Samar, and then flew over Tylos and Pelos.Icarus was elated, he felt that the flight was very light, and he couldn't help but feel proud.So, he manipulated his wings and flew towards the sky, but the punishment finally came!The strong sunlight of the sun melted the sealing wax, and the feathers sealed together with wax began to loosen.Before Icarus realized it, the wings had completely spread out and rolled down from his shoulders.The unfortunate child had to paddle desperately in the air with both hands, but he couldn't float up, fell headlong, and finally fell into the vast ocean, where the vast expanse of blue waves drowned him.It all happened so suddenly, so quickly, that Daedalus was not aware of it.When he turned around again, he didn't see his son. "Icarus, Icarus!" he cried out with foreboding. "Where are you? Where shall I find you?" At last he glanced down in horror.He saw many feathers floating on the surface of the sea.Daedalus hastily retracted his wings and landed on an island. Putting his wings aside, he opened his eyes wide and searched hopefully.After a while, rough waves pushed his son's body ashore.God!Talos, who was killed by him, avenged his revenge!Desperate father buries son's body.To commemorate his son, from then on, the island where Icarus' body was buried was called Icaria.

Daedalus continued to fly with grief.He flew to Sicily, where King Cocalus ruled. Here he was received with the same kindness and hospitality as a guest of honor, as he had been received by Minos in Crete.His artistic genius surprised the local residents.He built water conservancy there, built an artificial lake, and sent the lake water along the river to the nearby sea.On the top of the steep mountain, there is a dangerous place that cannot be climbed and impacted, and even trees are difficult to grow. He built a solid city on it, and built a narrow path that spirals up to the top of the mountain.Such a castle can be guarded by only three or four people, and it is as solid as a rock.King Cocalus chose this impregnable castle to store his treasures.The third project Daedalus completed in Sicily was to dig a deep hole in the ground.He cleverly drew the heat of the underground fire from the cave, so even a damp cave is now as comfortable as a greenhouse, as if heating equipment was installed in the cave, people are sweating slowly, but not too much. hot.In addition, he enlarged the temple of Aphrodite on Mount Eryx, and dedicated a golden hive to the goddess.Daedalus carefully carved those small honeycombs almost to the point of realism, exactly like natural honeycombs.

When King Minos heard that Daedalus had fled to Sicily, he was very angry and determined to send a powerful army to take him back.He equipped a fleet and sailed from Crete to Sicily.After his army was stationed on the island, he sent envoys to the capital to demand that King Cocalus hand over the fugitive Daedalus.Cocalus was indignant at the outrageous demands of the foreign lord.He thought about how to eliminate the invading leader in one fell swoop.Cocalus pretended to agree to his request and invited him to the meeting to discuss.Minos came and was received with great hospitality by Cocalus.After a long journey, Minos prepared to take a warm bath to relieve the fatigue of the journey.While he sat in the bathtub, Cocalus had the fire heated up until Minos was scalded to death in the boiling water.The king of Sicily gave the body to the Cretans, saying that Minos had slipped and fallen into the boiling pool while bathing.Cretan soldiers buried Minos with great ceremony on the outskirts of Agrigent, and built a temple of Aphrodite next to his tomb.

Daedalus became the guest of King Cocalus.He trained many famous artists here and became the founder of Sicily's indigenous culture.Although he was respected and treated there, due to the tragic death of his son, he was always depressed, and he became more depressed and distressed in his later years.Finally, he died in Sicily, where he was buried.