When Ephra saw that her son was superior in strength to all his peers, she led him to the rock under which lay the sword and sandals of Aegeus, and said:
“My son, here under this rock lie the sword and sandals of your father, the ruler of Athens, Aegeus.” Move the rock and take the sword and sandals, they will be the sign by which your father will recognize you.
Theseus pushed the rock and easily moved it from its place. He took his sword and sandals, said goodbye to his mother and grandfather and set off on a long journey to Athens. Theseus did not heed the requests of his mother and grandfather to choose a safer sea route; he decided to go to Athens by land, through the Isthmus.
This path was difficult. Theseus had to overcome many dangers during his journey, and he had to perform many feats. Already on the border of Troisena and Epidaurus, the hero met the giant Periphetus, the son of the god Hephaestus. Like the god Hephaestus himself, his son, the giant Periphetus, was lame, but his arms were powerful and his body was huge. Periphetus was formidable. Not a single wanderer passed through the mountains in which Periphetus lived; the giant killed them all with his iron club, but Theseus easily defeated Periphetes. This was the hero’s first feat, and as a sign of his victory he took the iron club of Periphetus, whom he had killed.
Theseus walked further all the way to Isthmus without being exposed to danger. On Isthmus, in a pine grove dedicated to Poseidon, Theseus met the pine bender Sinid. He was a fierce robber. He put all travelers to a terrible death. Having bent two pine trees so that their tops touched, Sinid tied the unfortunate traveler to the pine trees and released them. With terrible force, the pines straightened and tore the body of the unfortunate man. Theseus avenged all those whom Sinid had destroyed. He tied up the robber, bent two huge pine trees with his mighty hands, tied Sinid to them and let the pine trees go. The ferocious robber died the same death with which he destroyed innocent travelers. The path through the Isthmus was now clear. Later, in memory of his victory, Theseus established the Isthmian games at the place where he defeated Sinid.
The further path of Theseus went through Kromion. The entire area around was devastated by a huge wild pig generated by Typhon and Echidna. The inhabitants of Kromion prayed to the young hero to save them from this monster. Theseus overtook the pig and killed it with his sword.
Theseus went further. In the most dangerous place of Isthmus, at the borders of Megara, where sheer cliffs rose high to the sky, at the foot of which foamy sea walls roared menacingly, Theseus encountered a new danger. At the very edge of the cliff lived the robber Skiron. He forced everyone who passed by to wash his feet. As soon as the traveler bent down to wash Skiron’s feet, the cruel robber, with a strong push of his foot, threw the unfortunate man off the cliff into the stormy waves of the sea, where he crashed to death on sharp stones sticking out of the water, and his body was devoured by a monstrous turtle. Theseus, when Skiron wanted to push him too, grabbed the robber by the leg and threw him into the sea.
Not far from Eleusis, Theseus had to fight Kerkion, just as Hercules had to fight Antaeus. The mighty Kerkion destroyed many, but Theseus, wrapping his arms around Kerkion, squeezed him as if in an iron vice and killed him. Theseus freed the daughter of Kerkion, Alope, and Theseus gave power over the country of Kerkion to the son of Alope and Poseidon, Hippothoont.
Having passed Eleusis and approaching the valley of the Cephisus River in Attica, Theseus came to the robber Damastus, who was usually called Procrustes (the drawer). This robber came up with a particularly painful torture for everyone who came to him. Procrustes had a bed; he forced those who fell into his hands to lie on it. If the bed was too long, Procrustes would pull the unfortunate man out until the victim's feet touched the edge of the bed. If the bed was short, then Procrustes cut off the unfortunate man’s legs. Theseus threw Procrustes himself onto the bed, but the bed, of course, turned out to be too short for the giant Procrustes, and Theseus killed him the same way the villain killed the travelers.
This was Theseus's last labor on his way to Athens. Theseus did not want to come to Athens stained with the shed blood of Sinid, Sciron, Procrustes and others; he asked the Phitalides[6] to cleanse him with special religious ceremonies at the altar of Zeus-Melicius[7]. The phytalids welcomed the young hero as cordially as a guest. They fulfilled his request and cleansed him from the filth of shed blood. Now Theseus could go to Athens, to his father Aegeus.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru