Up, up went
Icarus swifter than the eagle and swept proudly past him toward the sun.
The next instant he felt his wings loosen and droop.
Just then, Daedalus, who was miles away, turned his head, for he heard
the boy call him.
"Icarus, Icarus, where are you?" his father shouted. There was no
answer, but the mass of feathers in the blue sea below told the story.
Flying down, Daedalus searched till he found the body, and, tenderly
laying it in the earth he wept that he had ever thought of wings.
The land where this happened was wild, and only savage beasts lived in
it, so Daedalus flew away to Sicily. There he built a temple and on its
walls hung up his wings forever.
He became so proud of his own success that he believed no one else
could invent anything. He was willing, though, to teach others all he
knew, and sister, living near, sent her son, Perdix, to him to learn
what he could.
This boy was quick to see, to hear, and to learn, and he could invent
things himself.
One day when Daedalus was slowly cutting through a log with an ax, the
boy showed him how much quicker he could do it with a saw he had made.
No one had ever heard of a saw before, and Daedalus was angry.
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