A long, long time ago, on the remote island of Crete, a half-bull, half-man monster known as the Minotaur appeared. He was extraordinarily strong, fierce and had a huge appetite. As you can imagine, the people of Crete were very afraid of him.

It was in this way that they all gathered before the Royal Council to beg King Minos to find a way to banish the gruesome creature. But the king’s plans were different; learning of the existence of the minotaur, he said to himself: “If I capture the minotaur, everyone will fear me. None of my subjects will dare to betray me and my enemies will think twice before attacking me.”

And so the king summoned Daedalus, the most brilliant inventor of his kingdom, and his young son, Icarus.

“Daedalus, build a prison for the minotaur,” said the king. This must be so impenetrable that nothing and no one can escape even with the help of the gods.

Daedalus was an ordinary man, but his creations were extraordinary. So, he built a labyrinth so tangled and twisted, that once inside, it was impossible to find a way out.

The king locked the minotaur in the labyrinth, but the monster was not the only one to suffer this fate. He also made Daedalus and Icarus prisoners; someone with the talent of an inventor would come in handy in times of war.

For many years, father and son lived in the highest tower of the palace, working on countless inventions under the watchful eyes of the royal guard.

One day, while looking out the window at the seagulls flying, Daedalus had an idea: build wings, just like the wings of the seagulls, only bigger and stronger. With these wings he and his son would fly away, back to Athens. So, he asked King Minos for feathers and wax with the excuse that they were for one of his many war inventions.

The long-awaited day arrived, Daedalus had finished the wings:

“With these wings we will fly like seagulls,” he told Icarus, “but be careful not to fly too high.” The sun will melt the wax that binds all the feathers together.

Together, they launched into the wind from the tower window. They flew over the island of Crete into the sea, people looked down on them mistaking them for the gods.

Everything was going according to plan, until Icarus thought: “I can fly higher than the seagulls”. Forgetting his father’s advice, he flew high into the vastness of the sky.

Suddenly the air became warmer and warmer and the feathers on their wings shed one by one. It was too late, the sun had melted the wax that held the feathers together.

Daedalus heard his son’s cries and flew in his direction, but all he found was thousands of feathers floating in the sea.