Icarus Swinebuckle
Genre: Family Comedy
Icarus Swinebuckle, a book by New York Times Best Selling Author Michael Garland, is a story that is based on the Greek mythology character of Icarus. Only in this story, Icarus is a cobbler by trade, but he was really more of a dreamer. However, his daydreams about flying was causing work to back-up.
One night, Icarus revealed to his son Robin, the most beautiful set of wings. Icarus tells him that he thinks they will work. Goose feathers held together by wax. Robin thought they looked like an angel’s wings.
One day, Icarus decides to test his wings. A large crowd gathers below his building as he climbs up on the roof top. Everyone stares in amazement. His son looks up at him with proud eyes. His wife shuts her eyes because she cannot bear to watch.
As he stepped off the roof, he held his wings high - the crowd gasped! But Icarus didn’t fall. He began to fly - and the crowd cheered! Icarus rose far about the earth. So high he could see only the sun. Could he fly there! He had to try. Icarus began beating his wings with all his might.
As Icarus drew closer and closer to the sun, the wax on the wings began to soften. One by one his feathers fell out. He stopped his climb, but it was too late. Icarus plummeted back to the earth - everyone was still staring at him.
As they fished Icarus out of the water, he felt so embarrassed that he failed in front of the whole town. But as he came up onto the land, his son and wife greeted him with huge smiles. And suddenly, the whole crowd cheered.
That night, after he had told his son Robin all about his flight, he told him that when he was up there, he could see the moon. And that gave him another idea. He wanted to build a flying ship that could take him there. As he wondered if he could build such a thing, Robin assured him that he could and that he would be glad to help. Icarus picked up his sketch book, and began to draw.