These were probably the last words of Icarus, the son of the proud craftsman, Daedalus.
Wait! You must be thinking,”What is all this story of wings, last words, Icarus?” Well, my friends, let us go back in time to understand the story of wings.
Once upon a time, there lived a proud architect named Daedalus. He was so proud of himself that he pushed his own nephew from his balcony for being a good craftsman like his uncle. He was SO stupidly proud of himself that he thought that with his skills, he was above all Gods. Little did he knew what was in store for him.
One day, King Minos of Crete invited him to his kingdom for a task. The King wanted to build a palace with a very difficult maze (The Labyrinth) under it in which the Minotaur could be imprisoned (The Minotaur was a monster with the head of a bull and a human body).
Daedalus brought his son, Icarus, with him. They lived on Crete until the maze and palace were complete. Daedalus went to the king and told him he wanted to leave the island. Minos was furious. He told Daedalus that he would never leave the island.
Daedalus and his son, Icarus were now trapped on the island.There, his crafty brain worked hard for a way to escape. He decided that he would make wings out of wax and feathers and he and Icarus would fly back to the mainland.
Now, lets take a break. Here, Daedalus is showing his pride. Back in the day, the Gods did not like it when humans tried to act like them by overcoming their mortal limits. In ancient Greek culture, acting like a God was called ‘hubris’, and it was often severely punished. As flying was a ‘Gods Only Right’, Daedalus was a ‘hubris’.
Now, back to the story. Daedalus told Icarus to collect all the feathers he could. The glued them onto two frames with wax. Daedalus and Icarus went to the top of a cliff and strapped on the wings. Before they flew off the mountain, Daedalus warned Icarus of two things, 1. No going near the Sun, and 2. No going near the sea.
They ran towards the edge of the cliff and flapped their wings. They flew! Daedalus has done the impossible! Alas! This angered the Gods!
Icarus was beaming with happiness and pride and began to fly higher and higher. “Remember what I said. Don’t fly too close to the sun,” Daedalus shouted after Icarus. Unfortunately, it was too late. The wax began to melt. Icarus flapped his wings madly but the feathers began to fall off his wings. He fell into the sea and drowned! Daedalus was heart broken.
With great sorrow and humbleness, Daedalus reached Sicily (Holy city of Apollo) and built a temple for Apollo. Here, Daedalus didn’t reach Sicily by accident, rather he understood his folly and built he temple for The Sun God, the cause of Icarus’ demise, accepting his inferiority.
Now, if you have read the entire story carefully, you would notice that in Daedalus’ life, he had caused the fall of two young men, one being his nephew, and the other, his son Icarus. But the difference between these falls were that one made him prouder, while the other made him humble.
If Daedalus had not been so proud of himself, he would still have his son. And this is a lesson to all those proud people out there, who thinks high about themselves. It is good, but to an extend. So, let us not be ‘hubris’ like Daedalus.
