Read to the story. Match the names to the descriptions
a
1 Aegeas
2 Minos
3 Ariadne
4 Theseus
use
a huge maze
b Aegeas's son
C king of Crete
da monster
e king of Athens
f Minos's daughter
b Which of the people and things are in
the picture?
2 Answer the questions.
1 Why does the ship go to Crete every year?
2 How does Ariadne help Theseus?
3 How does Theseus kill the Minotaur?
4 Why do Ariadne and Theseus leave Crete?
5 What happens when they stop at an island? Why?
6 Why does Aegeas jump off the cliff?
5 The Minotaur
6 The Labyrinth
use
cause

Theseus and
the Minotaur

Theseus lived in Ancient Greece. His
father was the king of Athens. One
day. Theseus and his father were at the
harbour. There was a ship there with a
black sail.
-Where is the ship going, Father?' asked
Theseus.
the king of Crete.
"Why?' said Theseus.
To the island of Crete,' said the king.
Every year we send seven young men
10 and seven young women to King Minos,
The next day, Theseus tied the string to the entrance and
went into the Labyrinth. For hours he walked through the
King Minos,' said his father, "has a terrible monster,
35 dark maze. Suddenly, he heard a terrible noise. It was the
called the Minotaur. It's half man and half bull. It lives in
Minotaur. The monster rushed at him, but Theseus jumped
15 a huge maze, called the Labyrinth. And it eats people!
up and grabbed its horns. He pulled hard and broke the
monster's neck. The Minotaur was dead.
"Don't send the ship,' said Theseus.
Theseus followed the string back to the entrance.
We must,' said his father. 'King Minos will attack us.'
40 'My father will be very angry, said Ariadne. "You must
Then I'll go,' said Theseus. 'And I'll kill the Minotaur.
take me with you to Athens.?
*All right,' said the king sadly. "I'll wait on the cliffs every
They ran to the ship and sailed away from Crete.
20 day. When you come back, change the black sail to white.
"Thank you,' said Ariadne. 'I'm free from my cruel father,
Then I'll know you're safe.'
and soon we will be married.
So the ship sailed to Crete with Theseus and the other
45 "Married? thought Theseus. 'Ariadne helped me, but I
don't want to marry her!"
"Who will go into the Labyrinth first tomorrow? asked
A few days later they stopped at an island.
'T'll guard the ship, while you find some food,' said
'I will,' said Theseus.
Theseus. When Ariadne was gone, he quickly sailed away
"You're very brave, but you won't come back!' laughed 50 from the island.
the king
However, he forgot to change the ship's sail. When his
But the king's daughter, Ariadne, fell in love with
father saw the black sail, he cried: 'My son is dead! He
0 Theseus. She gave him a large ball of string.
jumped off the cliff into the sea and drowned. The king's
will find
you
"Use this,' she said, 'so that
name was Aegeas, and to this day, we call that sea the
young people.
25 King Minos.
your way out of
55 Aegean Sea.
the Labyrinth.