Icarus: Flight and Fall
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About this story
Daedalus built the Labyrinth for King Minos, and Minos will not let the man who knows its secret leave Crete. So the master craftsman looks at the one road the king cannot close — the sky — and begins gathering feathers. He builds two pairs of wings, teaches his son to use them, and gives the warning every listener already knows: not too low, where the spray will soak the feathers; not too high, where the sun will melt the wax.
Icarus: Flight and Fall is a directed retelling of the myth, about fourteen minutes, drawing on Ovid's Metamorphoses and the Library of Apollodorus. It gives Daedalus, Icarus and Minos their own voices, so the story plays as a father and son talking on a cliff top rather than a moral being recited. The joy of the flight gets as much room as the fall — because the joy is the point, and the reason the fall still hurts after two thousand years.
It plays with a light, open ambience and the words appear on screen as they are spoken. Suited to classroom units on Greek mythology (rated 12+), and to anyone who remembers the story only as the shape of a warning and wants to hear it as a story again.
The cast
- Narrator
- Daedalus
- Icarus
- King Minos
How this was made
This is a full-cast production, not a single narrator reading a book. Each character has its own voice, the lines are directed for pace and emotion, and the story plays inside a live sound environment — a crackling hearth and a quiet cottage — that shifts as the scenes change. The voices are synthetic (high-quality text-to-speech, directed by people), and the words appear on screen as they are spoken, so you can read along or follow in a second language.
Questions
Is this a translation of Ovid?
No. It is a new retelling in modern English written for listening, with dialogue for Daedalus, Icarus and Minos, following the events as Ovid and Apollodorus give them.
Who is it for?
Rated 12+. It works for middle-school and high-school mythology units and for adults who want the story in fourteen minutes.
How much does it cost?
The opening is free to hear right now, no account needed. The full story is $1.99, a one-time purchase with a free account that stays in your library. Several stories on this site are free in full.
Do I need to install anything?
No. Press Play and it opens in your browser. It works on iPhone, iPad, Android and desktop.
Can I read along?
Yes. The text is highlighted word by word as it is spoken, and you can switch the on-screen text to Spanish while listening in English (or the other way round).
Source and rights
Based on the myth of Daedalus and Icarus as told in Ovid's Metamorphoses (Book VIII) and the Library of Apollodorus, both in the public domain. Retold and directed by ImmersivePage. Cover art created for this edition.
