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So they went down to the black-sailed ship, seven maidens and seven youths, and Theseus before them all, and the people following them lamenting. But Theseus whispered to his companions, "Have hope, for the monster is not immortal. Where are Periphetes, and Sinis, and Sciron, and all whom I have slain?"
The fame of his deeds had gone before him, and men and women came crowding to the roadside to see the hero who had slain Club-carrier and Pine-bender and grim old Sciron of the cliff. "Now we shall live in peace," they cried; "for the robbers who devoured our flocks and our children are no more."
Where are Periphetes, and Sinis, and Sciron, and all whom I have slain? Then their hearts were comforted a little; but they wept as they went on board, and the cliffs of Sunium rang, and all the isles of the AEgean Sea, with the voice of their lamentation, as they sailed on toward their deaths in Crete.
And this rock, which men say is the body of Sciron, may still be seen, grim, ugly, and desolate; and one third of it lies in the sea, one third is embedded in the sandy shore, and one third is exposed to the air.
Thus the coast of Isauria was like a deadly shore of Sciron; it was avoided by sailors, who made a practice of putting in at the safer ports of Cyprus.
Then Theseus lifted him up all bruised, and said, 'Come hither and wash my feet. And he drew his sword, and sat down by the well, and said, 'Wash my feet, or I cut you piecemeal. And Sciron washed his feet trembling; and when it was done, Theseus rose, and cried, 'As thou hast done to others, so shall it be done to thee.
'I will be your king in Eleusis, and I will rule you right and well; for this cause I have slain all evil-doers Sinis, and Sciron, and this man last of all. Then an aged man stepped forth, and said, 'Young hero, hast thou slain Sinis? Beware then of AEgeus, king of Athens, to whom thou goest, for he is near of kin to Sinis.
Very well, then; had not a Theseus, on his way from Troezen to Athens, exterminated the malefactors as an incidental amusement, Sciron and Pityocamptes and Cercyon and the rest of them might have gone on battening on the slaughter of travellers, for all you and your Providence would have done.
Theseus knew for Perigune had told him that this was the dwelling-place of a robber named Sciron, who was the terror of all the coast, and whose custom it was to make strangers wash his feet, so that while they were doing so, he might kick them over the cliff to be eaten, by his pet turtle below.
"And after that," said another, "you must go inland, and not dare to pass over the cliffs of Sciron; for on the left hand are the mountains, and on the right the sea, so that you have no escape but must needs meet Sciron the robber, who will make you wash his feet; and while you are washing them he will kick you over the cliff, to the tortoise who lives below, and feeds upon the bodies of the dead."