Lesson 14 Reading: The Minotaur

The Minotaur

For use after Lesson 14.

Sight Words to Know

she, or

was, his

to, of, the, one

there

were, are

they, you

what, where, when

then, them, this

Sight or Common Words Child Should Be Becoming Familiar With

something

didn't, what's

give, have

know

all

said

saw

very

Words above Instructional Level (From Context, Parent)

Point out what a child knows about the word; briefly explain rules he doesn’t know yet.

frighten, frightening, frightful, frightened

secret, below, even, seven, only, eaten, away, after (two syllables, but otherwise concepts down)

people, castle, children, daughter, other, another, women

rich, chest

show

thank

ball, call, small, town, down, bull, want, choose, told

once, come, love, son, young, head, ready

room, soon (long ‘u’ sound to be studied next)

king, string, going, long

Minos, Athens, Minotaur

            Once there was a king named Minos. He ruled the land of Crete and was very rich. He owned lots of boats to sail on the seas. His people were glad, and they could boast. But the king had a frightening secret. Below his castle was a maze. And in the maze was a frightful beast. It was called the Minotaur. It had the legs of a man, but it had the chest and head of a bull.

            The Minotaur had to eat something – but it didn’t eat toast or roasts or even toads or goats or foals. It ate people. If Minos didn’t give the Minotaur what it wanted, it might come out and eat him, or frighten his people. But Minos didn’t want to feed his own people to the Minotaur. So he made a small town named Athens send people to feed it.

            “Give me seven young men and seven young women,” Minos told the king of Athens, “or I will send my boats and take Athens from you.”

            The king of Athens didn’t know what to do. He was sad, but he was frightened of Minos. He made all of his people send their children so they could choose which ones to give to the beast. Only the prince, Theseus, didn’t have to go.

            One day Theseus woke up to cries and moans. “What’s going on?” he asked. A woman told him.

            “Our children are going to be eaten by the Minotaur!”

            “Then I will go with them,” he said. “This must stop!”

            The king didn’t want his son to go, but at last he said yes. Theseus and the other young men and women got in the boat and left the coast of Greece, where they lived. They sailed to Crete. When they got there, Minos met them.

            “You will be locked in your rooms,” he said. “Soon it will be time to eat!” Minos was quite a mean king at times.

            But Minos’s daughter, Ariadne, was very nice. And she fell in love with Theseus as soon as she saw him. She sneaked up to his room.

            “Take this,” she said. She gave him a ball of string. “When you go into the maze, drop it. It will show you where the Minotaur is.”

            “I will,” said Theseus, “thank you.” So when Theseus and the others were put in the maze, Theseus was ready. He dropped the ball of string, and it fell down, down, deep into the maze. Theseus killed his foe after a long fight, and he and Ariadne and the other men and women sailed away from Crete. The tale is sad after that – but it is another one for another day.