Many a time if Daedalus had not
caught him on his own great wings, Icarus would have gone tumbling heels
over head, down, down to the foot of the tower.
Finally, Icarus, too, could sail like a pigeon, and if the night had not
been so dark it would have been great fun to see these two new birds fly
out of that tower window.
Keeping their wings so close to each other that they almost touched,
they flew away over houses and fields. Before the sun came out, Daedalus
told his boy to be careful to keep near him. "Don't fly too near the
sun, for the heat will melt the wax, nor too low, for the damp will wet
the feathers. Keep close to me."
When the morning dawned they saw the men plowing in the fields stop work
to look at them. Shepherds left their flocks and ran miles to see where
those strange birds were going. No one could tell who they were. It was
grand to be so free and to fly so swiftly.
An eagle saw them and flew near. They felt the breeze from his powerful
wings, and swifter went their own. The eagle, frightened, turned and
mounted toward the sun. Icarus forgot his father's warning and followed.
Daedalus flew on and on, thinking his boy was beside him.
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