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Polish Literature for Children & Young Adults Inspired by Classical AntiquityŻylińska, Jadwiga, Mistrz Dedal[Master Daedalus]. Okładka i ilustracje[Cover design and illustrationsby] Bohdan Wróblewski. Warszawa:Krajowa Agencja Wydawnicza RSW„Prasa–Ksiażka–Ruch,” ˛1973. 59 pp.Genre: Adaptation of myth.Summary: It is the life story of Daedalusbeginning from his first visit to an Athenianblacksmith. The young Deadalus, adescendant of Erechtheus, king of Athens,starts to learn his craft locally and still as an apprentice quickly becomesfamous for his inventions and skills. After killing Talos, his talented rival andnephew, Daedalus is convicted and banished. He travels to Crete, where hisskills win recognition and favour of king Minos and queen Pasiphaë. He buildsa Labyrinth as a new wing for the royal palace and produces a statue of a manwith the head of a bull which was called “Minotaur.” Eventually, Daedalusloses king’s favour and, with his son, Icarus, flees from Crete using his owninvention, a flying contraption similar to wings. Icarus falls down into thesea and dies. Minos pursues the fugitives, but is killed during the pursuit atthe court of the Sicilian king Cocalus, where Daedalus was hiding. Finally,Daedalus dies on Sardinia, where he built a system of forts and watchtowers.Żylińska describes also certain Cretan customs (e.g. bull fights) and the storyof Minos’ son Androgeos as a reason for the king’s bloody retribution againstAthens. She proposes a rational explanation for origins of the myth of theMinotaurClassical themes: Żylińska describes myths connected to Daedalus, e.g. killingof nephew (named Talos), building the Labyrinth, flight from Crete, deathof Icarus, death of Minos. She makes some references to a movement popular inthe 1970s known as “feminist theology” or “Goddess movement” by emphasizing435