Ad heard all about Daedalus and was ecstatic to meet him. He hoped Daedalus could solve the dilemma that plagued Crete: the problem of the Minotaur. 5 The first task King Minos asked Daedalus and Icarus to perform was to construct a labyrinth, an elaborate system of tunnels, to be built partly underground, under the king’s palace, and partly above ground. It was intended to be so difficult to get through that no one would ever be able to find the way out. King Minos believed that this complex web would confine the Minotaur and provide the best chance to do away with the creature permanently.

6 Daedalus and Icarus agreed to design the labyrinth and built it. Even though Daedalus agreed to construct it, he realized that doing so put him and his son in a precarious position. He and Icarus were the only ones who knew the secret passageway. King Minos understood this and feared that Daedalus or Icarus would have too much power. The king was wary of anyone knowing more than he did.

The confusing aspects of the case,

And the witness ran off. 5

So the report filed and forgotten in the archives read simply

“Drowned,” but it was wrong: Icarus

Had swum away, coming at last to the city

Where he rented a house and tended a garden.

"That nice Mr. Hicks” the neighbors called, 10

Never dreaming that the gray, respectable suit

Concealed arms that had controlled huge wings

Nor that those sad, defeated eyes had once

Compelled the sun. And had he told them

They would have answered with a shocked, 15

uncomprehending stare.

No, he could not disturb their neat front yards;

Yet all his books insisted that this was a horrible mistake:

What was he doing aging in a suburb?

Can the genius of the hero fall 20

To the middling stature of the merely talented?

And nightly Icarus probes his wound

And daily in his workshop, curtains carefully drawn,

Constructs small wings and tries to fly

To the lighting fixture on the ceiling: 25

Fails every time and hates himself for trying.

He thought himself a hero, had acted heroically,

And dreamt of his fall, the tragic fall of a hero;

But now rides commuter trains,

Serves on various committees, 30

And wishes he had drowned.

"Icarus" by Edward Field. Accessed via Unify.

Even though Daedalus agreed to construct it, he realized that doing so put him and his son in a precarious position.

What does the use of the phrase precarious position suggest in this sentence?

They do not know what to do.

They are in a risky situation.

They are in a fearful state.

They do not trust the king.