简易英语读物《希腊神话-Greek Mythology》-（33）Theseus and MinotaurKing Minos sat in his high chair and watched the young Theseus entered into his great Hall.“You will know that you never leave the Labyrinth alive”, said Minos, “the Minotaur will find you and kill you one by one”.“But what if we kill the Minotaur first ，king Minos”, said Theseus.Minos laughed loudly, “Kill the Minotaur?” He said.“Why, if you kill the Minotaur, I promise that I will let all of you go”“I will kill him”, said Theseus, “just let me take my sword into the labyrinth and I will face the monster”.“Oh, so the luck swimmer is the hero now too”, said Minos.He was still laughing.“I am Theseus, son of the king Aegeus, if I kill the monster, do you promise let us to return to Athens”.“All right, tomorrow morning you may try to kill my monster, if you escape the labyrinth, all of you may leave”.Ariadne, king Minos’s daughter, was standing next to his father as the man spok e. She thought Theseus was very handsome, and admired his courage so much that she fell in love with him instantly.She secretly decided to help the young hero.During the night, Ariadne quietly entered the prison’s room and woke Theseus.She explained to Theseus that Minotaur was not his only danger.“Who are you?” Theseus said and admired her beauty.“I am Ariadne, the daughter of the king”, “and I am here to help you, listen to me, you will enter the labyrinth easily, and I believe that you are great hero, and will kill the Minotaur”.“But even if you do that, you will never find the way out the Maze”.“you see even the Minotaur is the prison here”, but I know how you can escape the labyrinth”“If I tell you how to get out the labyrinth, would you promise to marry me and take me with you to Athens?”Theseus promised the princess that he would do so.And then Ariadne gave him a ball of thin string, and explained to him what to do. The next morning, when Theseus entered the labyrinth, he tied one end of string to a rock near the door.As he walked deep into the maze，he let the string out slowly.Theseus walked deeper and deeper into the Maze, always moving toward the center where the Minotaur lived.The bones of many people and animal lying on the ground, many of walls were covered with dry blood.Eventually Theseus heard the sound of heavy breath and loud footsteps of large animal.He stopped walk and waited the Minotaur to appear around the cornerAs soon as the monster saw Theseus, it put its head down and ran at Theseus with its hornsTheseus reached out his strong arm and grabbed the horns with his powerful hands. The Minotaur turned its head quickly back and forth tried to get Theseus off.But it could not, then Theseus used all of his strength and turned Minotaur neck until it was almost broken.The Minotaur fell and before it could get back up again, Theseus pushed his sword into its mouth all the way through its head.He then followed the string back to entrance of the labyrinthWhen Theseus came out the labyrinth with the bloody sword in his hand, the other Athenians began crying, tear in joyBy killing the Minotaur, Theseus had not only saved his own life but the others as well.King Minos was very angry to see Theseus came out the labyrinth alive. However, because his amazing deed, the king was now certain that Theseus was protected by the gods.He let the Athenians go free, thus the Athenians debt to Crete was ended.The next day Theseus kept his promise to Ariadne and took her with him.When king Minos learned that his daughter had left with Theseus, he sent his ships to capture the Athenians.But Theseus had left very early, and his ship was too far ahead.After following for just a day, Minos‘s ship gave up and returned to Crete. Everyone was so happy returning to Athens that they had a great party and drank all wine on ship.The Next day they stopped at an island of Naxos, and went to search fresh water. While on the island, Ariadne walked around picking flowers to give to Theseus.She soon fell asleep on the beach under the warm sun.When Theseus saw her sleeping there, a strange thing happened, his heart turned cold to her and he order his people to return to the ship, leaved the island without her.Ariadne awoken up just in time to see the ship disappeared from sight.Her heart broke and she cried until the night fell.When the gods heard the Ariadne cry, they became angry and decided to punish Theseus for his selfishness.They made all the people on the ship forget to hang white sails.As they approach Athens, the black sails still hung highSince Theseus had left, his father had spent every day sitting on the high cliff over the sea, watching the water and waiting for the ship return.When he saw the black sails hanging on the ship, his heart broke just as Ariadne had. He had prayed all his life that his son would rule the kingdom after he died.Now he did not have anyone to rule the kingdom after he died.He stood up and walked over to the edge of the cliff, looked once more the black sails on the ship, and let himself fall into sea far below.When Theseus finally arrived at Athens he expected a large party to be going on celebration on safe return of the young men and women.Instead, all the people had sad faces and Theseus was greeted only by the dead body of his father lying on the beach where the wave had pushed it译文与注释忒休斯和牛头怪国王米诺斯坐在高椅子上，看着年轻的忒修斯走进他伟大的殿堂。