Dædalos constructed two large wings and fastened them to his body with wax. Moving them with his arms and hands he was able to fly like a bird. He made another pair of wings for his son Ikaros, fastened them to the boy’s body and taught him how to move them. Then he instructed Ikaros to keep close to him and not to fly too high lest the wax should be melted by the heat of the sun, nor to keep too near the surface of the sea, as he might dip his wings into the water and render them too heavy for flight.
After he had given this advice, he flew up first and his son followed. Away they went, cutting through the air like two eagles, and soon the high mountains of Crete were left far behind them. Below them the wide sea stretched out its great expanse. The sailors looked up from their boats and wondered what these strange beings were.
DÆDALOS AND IKAROS.
(From the painting by Van Dyck.)
They flew over fields where farmers were ploughing, and the farmers gazed up with astonishment. But Dædalos and Ikaros flew on and on, heedless of all that was going on below. The fishermen forgot to take in their fish and the farmers forgot to urge their oxen on with the goad, but kept gazing into the sky until the flying people were out of sight.
At first Ikaros kept close in the wake of his father, but when his confidence grew stronger he rose up higher. He forgot his father’s advice and flew very high into the air. Up, up to the sun as nearly as he could go. The wax melted. The wings parted and fell to pieces, and Ikaros was precipitated like a stone into the sea.
Dædalos missed the boy in a short time and turned back to look for him. He could not see him anywhere, so he called: “Ikaros, Ikaros, my son, where art thou?” But Ikaros made no answer. Dædalos flew about in great agony, and at last he saw the wings of his son floating on the surface of the sea.
Then Dædalos knew that his beloved Ikaros was drowned. He descended to an island and searched the cliffs, and at length he found the body of Ikaros, which the waves had washed ashore. With tears and lamentations Dædalos buried his only son, and thus was he punished for the death of his disciple, Talos. And the sea in which Ikaros was drowned was called the Icarian Sea from that time.