And Theseus ate and drank with them, and they begged him to stay, but he would not.
"I have a great work to do;" he said, "I must go towards Athens."
And the shepherds said, "You must look warily about you, lest you meet the robber, called the Pine-bender. For he bends down two pine-trees and binds all travelers hand and foot between them, and when he lets the trees go their bodies are torn in sunder."
But Theseus went on swiftly, for his heart burned to meet that cruel robber. And in a pine-wood at last he met him, where the road ran between high rocks.
There the robber sat upon a stone by the wayside, with a young fir-tree for a club across his knees, and a cord laid ready by his side, and over his head, upon the fir-top, hung the bones of murdered men.
Then Theseus shouted to him, "Holla, thou valiant Pine-bender, hast thou two fir-trees left for me?"
The robber leapt to his feet and answered, pointing to the bones above his head, "My larder has grown empty lately, so I have two fir-trees ready for thee."
He rushed on Theseus, lifting his club, and Theseus rushed upon him, and they fought together till the greenwoods rang.
Then Theseus heaved up a mighty stroke and smote the Pine-bearer down upon his face, and knelt upon his back, and bound him with his own cord, and said, "As thou hast done to others, so shall it be done to thee." And he bent down two young fir-trees and bound the robber between them for all his struggling and his prayers, and as he let the trees go the robber perished, and Theseus went on, leaving him to the hawks and crows.
Clearing the land of monsters as he went, Theseus saw at last the plain of Athens before him.