He put feathers together, beginning with the
smallest and adding larger, so as to form an
increasing surface.
The larger ones he secured with thread and
the smaller with wax, and gave it a
curvature like birds wings.
When the work was done, the artist, waving
his wings, found himself buoyed upward, and
hung suspended, poising himself on the beaten
air.
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He next equipped his son in the same manner. He said, "Icarus, my son, I
charge you to keep at a moderate height, for if you fly too low the damp will
clog your wings, and if too high the heat will melt them.
He kissed the boy, not knowing that it was for the last time. Then rising on
their wings, they flew off, and left their prison.
The boy, exulted, began to soar upward as if to reach heaven. The nearness of
the blazing sun softened the wax which held the feathers together, and they
came off.
He fluttered with his arms, but no feathers remained to hold the air. He
cried to his father but was submerged in the blue waters of the sea which
thenceforth was called by his name.
His father cried, "Icarus, Icarus, where are you?" At last he saw the
feathers floating on the water, and bitterly lamenting his own arts, he
buried the body and called the land Icaria in memory of his child.
Daedalus arrived safe in Sicily, where he built a temple to Apollo, and hung
up his wings, an offering to the god.
His sister had placed her son Perdix under his charge to be taught the
mechanical arts.
Perdix was a scholar and gave striking evidences of ingenuity. Daedalus was
so envious of his nephew's performances that he took an opportunity, when
they were together one day on the top of a high tower to push him off.
But Minerva, who favours ingenuity, saw him falling, and arrested his fate by
changing him into a bird called after his name, the Partridge.
This bird does not build his nest in the trees, nor take lofty flights, but
nestles in the hedges, and mindful of his fall, avoids high places.
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