The princess Scylla falls in love with her father’s enemy Minos. She sneaks away to meet him, but he rejects her. Distressed, she jumps into the sea and is turned into a bird.

On Crete, Minos has trapped the hybrid monster the Minotaur, a half bull, half man, in a labyrinth (176). Theseus, with the aid of Minos’ daughter Ariadne, defeats the Minotaur. He takes Ariadne away, only to abandon her before he reaches Athens. The god Bacchus turns her into a constellation.

The master inventor Daedalus, imprisoned on Crete, escapes with his son by building wings from wax and feathers. He warns Icarus not to fly too close to the sea or sun. Icarus does not listen and flies too high: “the scorching sun so close / softened the fragrant wax that bound his wings; / the wax melted; his waving arms were bare.” Icarus falls to his death (178).