Archive-name: Fantasy/minotaur.txt
Archive-author: 
Archive-title: Legend of the Minotaur


  This unhappy monster, with the body of a man and the head and horns of
a bull, was the result of a broken promise and unnatural desire.
  His story began when Minos of Crete sought the throne of that kingdom.
To impress the Cretans, Minos told them that the gods would answer any 
prayer he addressed to them, and challenged the Cretans to put him to the
test.  The Cretans told him to ask Poseidon, Lord of the Ocean, to send him
a bull out of the sea, and followed him to the seashore to watch him make
this seemingly absurd request.  Minos prayed fervently for it to be granted,
and promised that if the bull appeared then he'd sacrifice it to the glory
of Poseidon.
  The the awe and astonishment of the Cretans, the waters parted and a
magnificent white bull swam ashore.  They promptly elected Minos as their
king, but he could not bring himself to sacrifice the splendid white bull
from the sea.  He added it to his own herd, and sacrificed an ordinary bull
to Poseidon.
  The Ocean God was so infuriated by this broken promise that he caused
Pasiphae, the wife of Minos, to fall in love with the bull.  She lavished 
caresses and embraces upon the animal, but it showed no interest in her
desire until she persuaded the inventor Daedalus to build her an artificial
cow, so that she might crouch within it to be served by the bull.
  In due course she gave birth to a monster with a calf's head and a man's
body, which quickly developed into a full-grown male with a head of a great
fighting bull.
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