We’ve done lots of events with the poets from Falling Out of the Sky. Sometimes they read their own poems from the book, and sometimes they read other people’s.
In this video, John Canfield (who wrote ‘The Legend of Jan Tregeagle’), is performing ‘The Minotaur’ by Rachael Nicholas. I’m in the background, holding my watercolour painting of the Minotaur, which is based on my illustration in the book. And that’s Kate Wakeling on the left – she wrote ‘The Serpent and the Turtle’.
I’ve always felt sorry for the Minotaur, alone in that big maze just waiting for someone to come and slay him, so I drew him looking a bit sad, though I did also want him to look scary.
No-one really knows what the Minotaur is meant to look like, other than being half man and half bull. After watching the video and listening to the poem, why don’t you have a go at drawing the Minotaur?
You could try to capture what made him so terrifying that King Minos trapped him in the Labyrinth.
Or you could try to show what it might have felt to be the Minotaur – was he lonely? Did he get lost inside the maze too? Was he hungry all the time?
You could also draw Theseus. Would he look frightened inside the Labyrinth, peering around each corner, or would he stride around confidently?
You could also draw Ariadne, who gave Theseus the sword and ball of string. What would she be feeling as she waited for Theseus to emerge?
