Daedalus longed to return to the beautiful city of Athens and see his family. For the past few months, he had been working secretly on a plan that would get him and his son off the island of Crete.

The inventor had told the king that he needed supplies of bird feathers, wax, canvas and wood to build a new weapon for Crete's army.

He had informed Minos that he had invented a set of human wings that would allow a soldier to fly over an enemy army and attack from the air. This had never been done before, and the king and his advisers were awed.

Minos had given Daedalus the best of everything he wanted, and the inventor had begun work on the new weapon.

Now, the first two sets of wings were ready for testing. But Daedalus never intended the Cretans to use them.

Once a week, soldiers brought Icarus from the palace to visit his father. The two of them were always left alone because they could not possibly escape, with soldiers guarding the only door to the tower.

As soon as Icarus arrived that afternoon, his father took him onto the roof of the tower. 'Listen to me carefully,' Daedalus said. 'You must ask no questions. Just do exactly as I tell you.'

Daedalus fastened two pairs of wings to Icarus' arms, and two to his legs.

Then he fixed wings to his own limbs. 'Listen to my instructions, follow me all the time and do not fly off on your own. Are you ready?'

Icarus could scarcely believe what his father was telling him. He had always wanted to fly. His heart pounded with excitement and he nodded eagerly to show his father he had understood.

Daedalus moved towards the edge of the roof, paused for a moment and then jumped into the air, flapping his wings.

It worked! He was flying like a bird.

'Come on, Icarus!' he cried, ignoring the astonished cries of the citizens of Crete.

Icarus flapped his wings, too, and soon the two of them were flying like birds over the sea.

At first Icarus was a bit scared, but he quickly found he liked this flying business. 'This is awesome!' he thought, as he swooped down to the water and then let a current of air lift him back high above the waves. He flew up into the sky and looked back at his father, who was now just a tiny figure in the distance.

Daedalus shouted something, but Icarus did not hear. He was having the time of his life.

'Hey, dad! Watch this!' he cried as he flapped his wings and went higher towards the burning sun.

Slowly, the heat of the sun began to melt the wax that held the wings together. The feathers started dropping off.

Icarus flapped his arms in panic, but the damage had been done. His wings no longer worked, and the boy who had almost touched the sun plunged into the Mediterranean Sea below.

Comprehension

Can you answer these six questions about the story of Daedalus and Icarus?

1 Why was King Minos keeping Daedalus a prisoner?

2 What had Daedalus been planning in secret for the past few months?

3 How did he intend to achieve his plan?

4 What lie had the inventor told the king?

5 Why did Daedalus' scheme end in disaster?

6 How did Icarus meet his tragic end?

Answers:

1 Because Daedalus wanted to leave Crete, but the king wanted him to stay to go on working for him.

2 He had been working on a secret plan to get him and his son off the island.

3 He had invented special wings that would allow him and Icarus to fly.

4 He had told the king the wings were to be used by soldiers.

5 Because Icarus did not obey his father and flew too close to the sun.

6 His wings melted and he fell into the sea and drowned.