Icarus - Son of Daedalus . . . . .

. . . . . Icarus. Son of Daedalus who dared to fly too near the sun on wings of feathers and wax. Daedalus had been imprisoned by King Minos of Crete within the walls of his own invention, the Labyrinth. 


Daedalus, the master craftsman, fashioned a pair of wings for himself and his son, made of feathers and wax. Before they took off from the prison, Daedalus warned his son not to fly too close to the sun, as the wax would melt, nor too close to the sea, as the feathers would become sodden. Overcome by the sublime feeling that flying gave him, Icarus soared through the sky, elated by the experience. In the process though, he came too close to the sun, which melted his wings. Icarus kept flapping his wings but soon realised that he had no feathers left and that he was only flapping his bare arms. And so, Icarus fell into the sea in the area that bears his name, the Icarian Sea near Icaria, an island southwest of Samos. 


So now you know! I thought of Icarus this morning, as this bird flew around Cave Rock, heading towards the early golden sunshine.