Theseus and the Minotaur

It is time for the people of Athens to send seven young men and seven young women as tribute to Minos, king of Crete, to be fed to the Minotaur, his half-man half-bull son. However, Theseus, the son of Aegeus, vows to slaw the Minotaur and end the ghastly tribute. Like the epic poems of Homer, Warwick Hutton begins his retelling of the myth of "Theseus and the Minotaur" in media res, so there is nothing about the story of how Theseus came to Athens. In Crete, Theseus is added by Ariadne, daughter of Minos, whom he pledges to take her back to Athens as his bride. There are two diverse stories in classical mythology of what happened to Ariadne on the voyage back to Athens, although all the tales agree that Theseus returned without her. One has it that she was seasick and went ashore to recover, only to have a violent wind carry the ship to sea. By the time Theseus returned, Ariadne had died. Hutton goes with the version less favorable to the hero, where he abandons her on an island. I admit I am curious as to Hutton's reasoning, although it could simply be that he only used one source. I would have thought the other version would better explain why Theseus forgot to raise the white sail before the ship came within sight of Athens. In his pen and watercolor paintings, Hutton works in authentic Minoan art, architecture and costumes, an attention to detail I certainly appreciate. This is something young readers should recognize, especially since this book might not only inspire them to read more tales from classical mythology but also because they might be interested in looking at some archeological books on the civilization on ancient Crete.