Ariadne's Story

When he went home to Athens, the great prince Theseus took me with him at first, but he later left me on the island of Naxos. Why did he leave me there? Everyone says that he was tired of me. But when we met, I was a princess of Crete and the most beautiful woman in the world. Was he really tired of me? Some people say that I killed myself when he left and went to Athens with my younger sister Phedra. She was only a child at the time, but it was useful to me that people thought I was so angry or sad that I ended my life then. I am old now, forty years old, and I want to tell everyone what really happened before it is too late.

My story begins long before Theseus came to Crete. When I was a child, I lived in the Palace of Knossos with my father, King Minos. He was not only the king of Crete. He was also the strongest king in the world. The other kings were afraid of him. To keep him happy, Aegeus - the king of Athens - and the kings of all the other cities had to send presents to him every year. One of the presents Aegeus had to send was seven young men and seven young women from Athens. They had to come to Crete every year and fight the bulls. All our people loved watching bullfights. When the boys and girls died in the bullfights, we gave their dead bodies to the Minotaur, the monster who lived in the Labyrinth, and he ate them. I usually watched the bullfights with my father, but I never thought much about those young people from far away. They came every year and they died every year, just like the flowers in the palace gardens. The priests told us that we must give the Minotaur young people's bodies to eat, so we gave him the dead bullfighters. People were afraid that one day the Minotaur would come out to kill people for food. So, if no bullfighters died in the bullfights for a long time, we sometimes sent one of them into the Labyrinth when he or she was still alive. Of course, we didn't want to send Cretan children to the monster.

The Labyrinth was under the ground at the bottom of our palace. Sometimes we could hear the Minotaur inside it: he roared like an angry bull under our feet. It was a terrible noise. Sometimes little boys ran inside the great door of the Labyrinth to show their friends how brave they were. Those who went in far enough never came out again because they always lost their way inside. One of my father's oldest friends, Dedalus, once told me that the Minotaur had the head of a bull but the body of a man.

"How do you know?", I asked him.

"Because I was there when the monster was born, and I built the Labyrinth to be his prison and his home", answered Dedalus. "Your father and I put the Minotaur there many years ago".

"But why?", I asked. "Why not kill him if he's so dangerous?"

"This is a question that you must ask your mother", answered Dedalus. "But don't worry, princess. The Minotaur can never escape from the Labyrinth. Only I know the way in and out - and your father, of course. It is good that most people are afraid of the Minotaur, but you must never be. The daughter of Minos should never be afraid". I never asked my mother about the monster. Somehow I knew that she would not like the question.

Dedalus was a kind old man and a very good teacher. He started to teach Phedra and me when we were very young. We knew much more than most other girls, who never studied. Dedalus taught us so many things about the world outside the palace. He knew a lot about the stars and the seas and other countries far from Crete. One day, when I was about eleven, two boys joined our classes with Dedalus. One was his son, Icarus, and the other was Enarus. Enarus was the son of the High Priest at the temple of Dionysus, a very important man in Crete. Dionysus was one of our most important gods - the god of wild feelings. It was a wonderful day for me when Icarus and Enarus joined our classes. At last I had some friends, not just a boring little sister to play with. I liked both the boys, but Enarus was always special. He was clever and funny. For four years Icarus and Phedra played together, while I was always with Enarus. Dedalus didn't worry because he saw that all his students were happy, and we were still very young.

But one day Minos was passing the palace gardens when he saw me with Enarus. We were lying and talking together under the trees at the time. Out of the corner of my eye I saw my father standing there. He watched us silently for a few moments. Then he called my name. "Ariadne!", he said. "Come here at once!"

I left Enarus under the trees and went to my father.

"Ariadne", he said once I stood in front of him, "you are now fifteen years old. When I die, you and your sister must look after Crete. You will need the help of strong husbands who are also princes. A prince can understand how to rule a kingdom, and his people will be your friends also".

He looked at Enarus under the trees.

"Do you understand me?", he said.

"Yes, father", I answered.

But of course I didn't really understand - not until the next morning when Enarus and Icarus didn't come to class. They never came again. Dedalus told me that Enarus was working with his father in the temple. I didn't see him for weeks. My life became suddenly boring and lonely. Phedra followed me everywhere, but I didn't want to be with her. In the end, I thought of a way to keep Phedra busy and to see Enarus again. I told Phedra that we had a new game. She had to take secret messages to Enarus.

"If anyone finds out", I told her, "they'll give you to the Minotaur because these are very secret messages".

Phedra was a little afraid, but she agreed to play the game because it was so exciting. She could go anywhere in the palace because she was so small, but I couldn't easily leave the women's rooms. So she went to the temple of Dionysus and gave Enarus my messages. He gave messages to her to bring back to me. Once a week Enarus and I met in the palace gardens. I knew a quiet place very near the door of the Labyrinth where nobody liked to go. I often walked there in the evenings when it was cool. Nobody thought it was strange that my walks were sometimes longer than usual.

Or that's what I thought. But I forgot my little sister. One day she followed me, and watched Enarus and me together. She said nothing to me about it at the time, but she couldn't keep quiet for long. With a stick she made her secret into a picture on the ground one morning.

"Who's that?", asked a friendly servant.

"It's Ariadne and her secret friend, Enarus, in the garden near the door of the Labyrinth", Phedra said, smiling.

The servant went to speak to my father.

The next morning my father called me to his rooms.