Scribd
Upload
3K views2 pages

Grade 10 Reading Proficiency Contest Link:: The Story of Icarus and Daedalus

The story of Icarus and Daedalus tells of their attempt to escape from King Minos' island of Crete by flying. Daedalus, an ingenious craftsman, fashioned wings for himself and his son Icarus out of feathers and wax. He warned Icarus not to fly too close to the sun or sea. Overcome by the thrill of flight, Icarus disobeyed and flew too near the sun, melting the wax and causing him to fall into the sea where he drowned. The area where he fell became known as the Icarian Sea, commemorating his death by ignoring his father's warnings.

Uploaded by

danchristian peregrino
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
3K views2 pages

Grade 10 Reading Proficiency Contest Link:: The Story of Icarus and Daedalus

The story of Icarus and Daedalus tells of their attempt to escape from King Minos' island of Crete by flying. Daedalus, an ingenious craftsman, fashioned wings for himself and his son Icarus out of feathers and wax. He warned Icarus not to fly too close to the sun or sea. Overcome by the thrill of flight, Icarus disobeyed and flew too near the sun, melting the wax and causing him to fall into the sea where he drowned. The area where he fell became known as the Icarian Sea, commemorating his death by ignoring his father's warnings.

Uploaded by

danchristian peregrino
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
  • The Story of Icarus and Daedalus: Presents the mythological story of Daedalus and Icarus, focusing on their escape from Crete and the tragic outcome.
  • Comprehension Questions: Provides a link to comprehension questions in Quizziz for further engagement with the story.

Grade 10 Reading Proficiency Contest Link:

[Link]

The Story of Icarus and Daedalus

The story takes us to the island of Crete during the rule of King Minos. Minos had the problem of where
he would house the Minotaur as he ran rampant through his kingdom. To solve this issue, he enlisted
the help of Daedalus, a master craftsman who had previously arrived in Crete after being exiled from
Athens.

Daedalus was instructed to create a large labyrinth that was capable of holding the Minotaur. Minos was
so pleased with Daedalus’ work that his status and position began to grow as he went from a slave to a
valued member of Minos’ Kingdom.

The downfall of Daedalus began with the arrival of the Athenian hero, Theseus. With the help of Minos’
daughter, Ariadne, and Daedalus himself, he was able to slay the Minotaur and return from the
labyrinth.

Theseus then sailed back to Athens with both of the Kings daughters. Naturally, Minos was infuriated by
the actions of Daedalus and his daughter, conspiring against him with the Athenians. But with his
daughter gone, the blame fell solely on Daedalus.

Rather than lose his priced craftsman, Minos decided against the execution of Daedalus. Instead, he
locks both Daedalus and his son Icarus away in the labyrinth that they created. There are some variants
sources that suggest they were locked away in a tower, but I prefer the irony that has been locked away
in a prison that you designed.

Having designed the labyrinth, Icarus and Daedalus were aware that escape for most would be
impossible. Still, Daedalus was not most men, and the master craftsman began surmising a plan for his
son and himself to escape.
Aware that they would have to leave Crete forever, Daedalus planned to do so through the sky, as there
would be no chance of escaping Minos’s Navy. Daedalus knew that he would have to construct a
method of flying, but this was no easy task, as a manned flight had never been undertaken before.

It was thought that one morning, a flock of birds flew over the head of Daedalus, and he was instantly
inspired, asking Icarus to collect all the feathers he could. Just like the birds he had just seen, Daedalus
would build wooden frames in the shape of wings. When Icarus had amassed the required feathers, they
were glued to the wooden frames using hot wax.

Once Daedalus had crafted two pairs of wings, he carefully warned Icarus, telling him that the wings had
many flaws and flying too high in the sky would cause the wax that he used as glue to melt. But flying
too close to the sea would cause the feathers to soak up the excess seawater, making them too heavy to
fly.

The following day, Icarus and Daedalus decided that they would attempt to finally escape Crete. The two
lept in the air and began flapping their wings—the invention of Daedalus had worked, and both he and
Icarus soared through the sky as they escaped Crete without being noticed.

The further they flew, the more Icarus grew in confidence, but his confidence soon turned into
overconfidence. Icarus was so overwhelmed by the feeling of flying that he believed he now knew what
it felt like to be a god, and in his newfound divinity, he disregarded his father’s warnings.

He flew higher and higher, as his father Daedalus could only watch him fly closer to the Sun. The wax on
Icarus’ wings began to melt, and the feathers attached to wooden frames began to drop off.

When Icarus had finally realized how high he had flown, it was already too late as he began to plummet,
holding onto his bare wooden frame the wings for dear life. Daedalus could do nothing but watch as
Icarus plunged into the sea, dying upon impact.

The area of water Icarus landed in would be known as the Icarian Sea, and the island where his body
washed up would also be named Icaria, in memory of Icarus.

Note:

Comprehension Questions are in [Link]

[Link]

You might also like