Icarus and Daedalus | Greek Mythology Stories | Ancient Greek History

Once upon a time, a long, long time ago, there lived a man named Daedalus and his young son Icarus. Daedalus was an inventor and a skilled craftsman. He created wonderful mechanical creations and built architectural marvels. One day, King Minos invited Daedalus to the island of Crete. The king asked him to build a huge maze for his beloved pet, the Minotaur. A Minotaur was a monstrous creature who was half man and half bull. Daedalus worked day and night along with his son to build the labyrinth. He made it so complicated that anyone who entered the maze would get lost for eternity. He was such a fine architect. When the labyrinth was ready, the king was amazed at Daedalus' skills and rewarded him. Daedalus and Icarus decided to stay on the island for some more days. It was during this time that a group of children arrived at Crete. They sailed away the next day, taking the king's daughter with them, and they had killed the Minotaur too! King Minos was stricken with grief. He believed Daedalus helped the children, as there was no other way they could get out of the maze alive. But Daedalus was innocent, and he had no clue about what happened. The king punished Daedalus and Icarus by keeping them as prisoners on the island of Crete. The father and son were helpless. How could they ever get out of this island without the ships? One day, Daedalus noticed the birds flying in the air. Wings, Daedalus thought. He knew he needed wings to escape from the island. From that day, they both began to gather all the bird feathers they could find. Daedalus glued them together with wax, one by one. After many days of hard work, Daedalus finished making two pairs of wings. He then decided that it was time to escape from the island. He called Icarus and gave him instructions. You must never fly too close to the sun, as the wax may melt. Fly too close to the ocean, and your wings will become too heavy with water that sprays off the waves. Icarus nodded in agreement. They flapped their wings, and wonder of wonders, they rose up in the air! They flew up in the air, and when they looked back, they could see the island of Crete far behind them. Icarus was excited, and he flew higher and higher. Stop, or the wax will melt! Daedalus shouted when he saw Icarus flying close to the sun. But Icarus was too far away, or too lost in his own happy thoughts of excitement to listen to his father's warnings. Before soon, the sun began to melt the wax, and feathers started falling off. Help me! shouted Icarus. But before Daedalus could reach his son, Icarus started falling. Poor Icarus plunged into the water and drowned. Daedalus landed as quickly as he could on the beach near where Icarus had fallen. But the only sign of his son was a few feathers floating in the waves. He named the island Icaria in memory of his son. On the beach where he landed, he built a temple to the sun god Apollo, and inside it hung the wings he had created, vowing never to fly again.