LABYRINTH

THE MACMILLAN COMPANY
NEW YORK · BOSTON · CHICAGO · DALLAS
ATLANTA · SAN FRANCISCO

MACMILLAN & CO., Limited
LONDON · BOMBAY · CALCUTTA
MELBOURNE

THE MACMILLAN CO. OF CANADA, Ltd.
TORONTO

ToMABEL L. ROBINSON

LABYRINTH

In the old story of the labyrinth at Crete, the Minotaur dwellingthere devoured in his day innumerable youths and maidens. He was slainfinally by the hero Theseus. The story goes that Theseus escaped bothmonster and death in the blind alleys of the labyrinth only becauseAriadne was wise enough to furnish egress by means of her slendersilken thread.

There is a modern story of a labyrinth, differing from the old tale inthat it has as yet no termination, no hero who has slain the Minotaur,no thread to guide those who enter its confusion of passages outto any clear safety beyond its winding darkness. This modern storydiffers from the old legend in other ways. The monster lurking inthis labyrinth seems to many who hear the tale merely a phantom. Hisbellowings are soft and gentle, he writhes in so sentimental a fashionthat he can scarcely be taken as a monster, and since he leaves hisvictims with their bones unbroken and their flesh unscarred, who is tosay that he has devoured them? They themselves may deny their fate.And in that lies a final likeness to the old story. Until Theseus andAriadne had between them destroyed the Minotaur, people had thoughthim an inevitable pest, and had looked upon the destruction he wroughtas legitimate. Perhaps some of the youth were tragic about their fate,but after all, a monster and a labyrinth possess dignity and provokeindifference merely by their continued existence.

Ariadne alone might not have slain the monster. She might have traveledthrough the passageways, her silken thread between her fingers, andperished herself without some aid from Theseus.

Here is the modern story of the labyrinth.

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