Daedalus stood staring out the entrance of the cave overlooking the sea, watching the waves crash on the rocks below and the seagulls circle over the cliffs.  It was spring and the nests on the cliffs were filled with eggs and chicks.

Icarus walked up beside his father and said softly, “How I envy those baby birds, for soon their wings will be strong and they’ll be able to fly away from this wretched cliff.”

Daedalus blinked, a smile slowly growing on his face.  He turned to Icarus his eyes twinkling, “Well then, my little fledgling, we’d best start working on strengthening your wings so you can be off with the others!”

First Daedalus used strips of leather and fine twigs to fashion a broom and a large net which he had Icarus dangle down towards the cliffs to sweep up the feathers near the seagull nests.  For many days Icarus carefully gathered every feather he could reach.

While Icarus was busy with feathers, Daedalus created thin tubes of light metal which he used to form the frame of two pairs of man-sized wings.  He used leather strips to create a harness and pulleys to allow the wearer to flap and tilt the wings in various directions.  Then he took the feathers that Icarus had collected and used candle wax to begin to attach the feathers to the light metal frames.

“Two frames?” Icarus smiled happily at his father, “Are you coming too?”

Daedalus clasped his son on the shoulder and replied, “I am, my son.  Thank you for reminding me that of all my creations, you are the most important to me.  I’m sorry that it’s taken me so long to free us both.”

It was painstaking work collecting the feathers and attaching them, one by one, to the frames but a few weeks later, as the first fledgling seagulls began to leave their nests, Daedalus declared the wings complete.

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